Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
Over the millennia, Sicily's strategic position in the middle of the Mediterranean has
lured culture after culture to its shores, resulting in one of Europe's richest and most
remarkable histories. Disputed for centuries by a steady parade of ancient peoples in-
cluding the Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans, the island saw subsequent rule by in-
vading forces of Byzantines, Saracens, Normans, Germans, Angevins, Spanish and
others before finally claiming its pivotal role within a unified Italy in the early 1860s.
Some of Sicily's earliest population centres grew up around Lipari, in the Aeolian Islands. Thanks to Li-
pari's volcanic origins, it was a prime source of obsidian, valued by Bronze Age peoples as an ideal materi-
al for making cutting tools. Obsidian mined in Lipari during the 2nd millennium BC has been found
throughout the Mediterranean.
