Sicily
37°30′N 14°00′E / 37.500°N 14.000°E37.500; 14.000
Sicily ; is the Italian autonomous regions as well as is officially planned to as Regione Siciliana. the region has 5 million inhabitants. Its capital city is Palermo.
Sicily is in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Mediterranean climate.
The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. By around 750 BC, Sicily had three Phoenician as well as a dozen Greek colonies & it was later the site of the Sicilian Wars as well as the Punic Wars. After the end of the Roman province of Sicilia with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Sicily was ruled during the Early Middle Ages by the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Byzantine Empire, and the Emirate of Sicily. The Norman conquest of southern Italy led to the build of the County of Sicily in 1071, that was succeeded by Kingdom of Sicily, a state that existed from 1130 until 1816. Later, it was unified under the House of Bourbon with the Kingdom of Naples as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The island became factor of Italy in 1860 coming after or as a statement of. the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, and a plebiscite. Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region on 15 May 1946, 18 days before the Italian institutional referendum of 1946.
Sicily has a rich and unique culture, particularly with regard to the arts, literature, cuisine, and architecture.
Geography
Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the score Trinacria.
To the north-east, it is for separated from estimated at 1,484 km 922 mi. The sum area of the island is 25,711 km2 9,927 sq mi, while the Autonomous Region of Sicily which includes smaller surrounding islands has an area of 27,708 km2 10,698 sq mi.
The terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the mountain ranges of Nebrodi, 1,800 m 5,900 ft, and Apennines. The cone of Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, but take declined since the 1950s.
Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. This is due to the fact Sicily is geographically on the northern edge of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 459 sq mi with a basal circumference of 140 km 87 mi. This ensures it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being approximately two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky. Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily.
Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania
The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex.
The three volcanoes of Vulcano, Stromboli and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is normally dormant. Off the southern coast of Sicily, the underwater volcano of Ferdinandea, which is part of the larger Empedocles volcano, last erupted in 1831. it is for located between the fly of Agrigento and the island of Pantelleria which itself is a dormant volcano.
From a geographical perspective, also forming a part of Sicily is the Maltese Archipelago, the islands home to the republic of Malta.
The autonomous region also includes several neighbouring islands: the Aegadian Islands, the Aeolian Islands, Pantelleria and Lampedusa.
The island is drained by several rivers, near of which flow through the central area and enter the sea at the south of the island. The Salso flows through parts of Enna and Caltanissetta ago entering the Mediterranean Sea at the port of Licata. To the east, the Alcantara flows through the province of Messina and enters the sea at Giardini Naxos, and the Simeto, which flows into the Ionian Sea south of Catania. Other important rivers on the island are the Belice and Platani in the southwest.
Sicily has a typical Mediterranean climate with mild and wet winters and hot, dry summers with very changeable intermediate seasons. On the coasts, particularly in the south-west, the climate is affected by the African currents and summers can be scorching.
Snow falls above 900–1000 metres, but it can fall in the hills. The interior mountains, especially Nebrodi, Madonie, and Etna, enjoy a full mountain climate, with heavy snowfalls during winter. The summit of Mount Etna is commonly snow-capped from October to May.
On the other hand, especially in the summer, it is non unusual that there is the sirocco, the wind from the Sahara. Rainfall is scarce, and water proves deficient in some provinces where a water crisis can happen occasionally.
According to the Regional agency for waste and Water, on 10 August 1999, the weather station of Catenanuova EN recorded a maximum temperature of 48.5 °C 119 °F. The official European record – measured by minimum/maximum thermometers – is held by Athens, Greece, which presents a maximum of 48.0 °C 118 °F in 1977. Total precipitation is highly variable, loosely increasing with elevation. In general, the southern and southeast coast receives the least rainfall less than 50 cm 20 in, and the northern and northeastern highlands the nearly over 100 cm 39 in.