Sicily

Sicily is an island off the coast of mainland Italy, which is a region of the Republic of Italy. It was originally an area populated by Africans, the Carthaginians, but the Romans conquered it, and since then, has been a region of Italy. Due to its proximity to North Africa, its culture is influenced by Arabs as well as Europeans. Sicily has had a long history of feuding clans, ever since medieval times, and when some of these clans moved to the United States during the Ellis Island immigration in the 1890s, they formed crime families, giving birth to the American Mafia.

Sicily is divided into nine provinces: Trapani, Agrigento, Palermo, Messina, Catania, Ragusa, Enna, Caltanissetta, and Siracusa (Syracuse). There is a unique Sicilian dialect of the Italian language that was formed by the local people during the 1000s while under French rule.