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The six parallel streets between via della Giudecca and via GB Alagona follow the Greek urban plan. It is still crowded with medieval houses and laundry flapping in the breeze.

Having been ruled for decades by the French Angevins, on Easter Monday 1282 an uprising began in Palermo. Using the excuse that a French soldier had insulted a woman, Sicilians killed every Frenchman on the island. Having successfully instigated revolt and done away with the unpopular foreign sovereign, Sicilians invited Peter of Aragón to become their king. Spanish domination lasted on the island for 500 years.

Urban plans of modern towns often follow ancient street patterns. The area of narrow straight streets known as la pettina (the comb) in Syracuse is left over from the Greeks. The tiny, winding streets of Palermo’s old neighbourhoods such as La Kalsa or the street plan of Castelvetrano come from Arab settlements. Cefalù’s system of parallel streets leading down to the sea is Norman.

Now lined with boutiques and restaurants, this street was where noble families built their Baroque palaces, often incorporating older structures.

The remains of a luxury hunting villa of a Roman official are the site of the best extant Roman mosaic cycle in the world. The rich figurative and decorative designs adorn the floors of the villa, which is situated in what was a forested area along the road from Catania to Agrigentum (see Villa Romana del Casale).

The composer (1801–35) was born in Catania, trained in Naples and is buried in Catania’s cathedral. His successful early works led to commissions for La Scala in Milan. The Sleepwalker and Norma are among his most successful operas.

Out of habit and necessity, Sicilians fiercely conserve water. Indoor plumbing did not reach the rural interior until the 1950s. Even where there is and has been plumbing, there is often no water due to poor or non-existent pipes. Bowls are often placed under spouts and spigots to catch an errant drop, and water is recycled – water from boiling pasta, for example, is given to pets instead of spilled down the drain.

Greeks and Romans used aqueducts and water-powered mills, while Arabs introduced land irrigation.

A glass of new wine accompanies i muffuletti on St Martin’s Day – usually strong, amber-coloured wine retrieved from the botte (barrel). Many families have at least enough grapevines for a yearly botte of wine, keeping it in the cellar if there is one, and if not, in the garage or anywhere else they can find as a cool spot.