114-560: Belpasso ( Sicilian : Malupassu , Marpassu or Mappassu ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily , located about 150 kilometres (93 mi) southeast of Palermo and about 10 kilometres (6 mi) northwest of Catania . Belpasso is the second biggest comune of the Catania's area for area (after Catania ). The original town
228-715: A long-lasting reign (with its capital in Pavia ) that gave the medieval name to the whole northern Italy and the current name to the Lombardy region. After the initial struggles, relationships between the Lombard people and the Latin-speaking people improved. In the end, the Lombard language and culture assimilated with the Latin culture, leaving evidence in many names, the legal code and laws, and other things. The end of Lombard rule came in 774, when
342-701: A / , / ɔ / , / u / . The mid-vowels / ɛ / and / ɔ / do not occur in unstressed position in native words but may do so in modern borrowings from Italian, English, or other languages. Historically, Sicilian / i / and / u / each represent the confluence of three Latin vowels (or four in unstressed position), hence their high frequency. Unstressed / i / and / u / generally undergo reduction to [ ɪ ] and [ ʊ ] respectively, except in word-/phrase-final position, as in [pʊsˈsibbɪli] ‘possible’ and [kʊˈniɟɟu] ‘rabbit’. As in Italian, vowels are allophonically lengthened in stressed open syllables . In
456-578: A Greek origin (including some examples where it is unclear whether the word is derived directly from Greek, or via Latin): From 476 to 535, the Ostrogoths ruled Sicily, although their presence apparently did not affect the Sicilian language. The few Germanic influences to be found in Sicilian do not appear to originate from this period. One exception might be abbanniari or vanniari "to hawk goods, proclaim publicly", from Gothic bandwjan "to give
570-683: A big contributor to pollution. It delivers more than 40 per cent of Italy's milk production, for example, while over half of the Italian pig production is located in the Po Valley. According to a research, published in The Lancet Planetary Health in January 2021, which estimates the death rate associated with fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) pollution in 1,000 European cities, Brescia and Bergamo in Lombardy have
684-406: A comprehensive Sicilian language dictionary intended to capture the language universally spoken across Sicily in a common orthography. Later in the century, Giuseppe Pitrè established a common grammar in his Grammatica Siciliana (1875). Although it presents a common grammar, it also provides detailed notes on how the sounds of Sicilian differ across dialects. In the 20th century, researchers at
798-701: A language, Sicilian has its own dialects in the following main groupings: First let us turn our attention to the language of Sicily, since the Sicilian vernacular seems to hold itself in higher regard than any other, because all the poetry written by the Italians is called "Sicilian"... Because Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and many peoples have passed through it ( Phoenicians , Ancient Greeks , Carthaginians , Romans , Vandals , Jews , Byzantine Greeks , Arabs , Normans , Swabians , Spaniards , Austrians , Italians ), Sicilian displays
912-506: A language, not a dialect, in official communication. The language is officially recognized in the municipal statutes of some Sicilian towns, such as Caltagirone and Grammichele , in which the "inalienable historical and cultural value of the Sicilian language" is proclaimed. Furthermore, the Sicilian language would be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). Although Italy has signed
1026-526: A major example is the Gran Paradiso National Park , between Aosta Valley and Piedmont , which is the oldest national park in Italy. The first two most visited regions of Italy are Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige , while the fourth and fifth are Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy . Northern Italy has many major tourist attractions, many of which are protected by UNESCO. Northern Italy is the home of
1140-530: A new Kingdom of Italy , made of all of northern Italy but Piedmont that was annexed to France , was established with Milan as capital and Napoleon as head of state. In the congress of Vienna , the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore enlarged by annexing the Republic of Genoa , contravening the principle of restoring the legitimate governments and monarchies of the old Republic. The rest of northern Italy
1254-503: A particular word has a prehistoric derivation, but it is not known whether the Sicilians inherited it directly from the indigenous populations, or whether it came via another route. Similarly, it might be known that a particular word has a Greek origin but it is not known from which Greek period the Sicilians first used it (ancient Magna Grecia or the Byzantine period ), or once again, whether
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#17328685783051368-515: A population of 27.4 million as of 2022, the region covers roughly 40% of the Italian Republic and contains 46% of its population. Two of Italy's largest metropolitan areas, Milan and Turin , are located in the region. Northern Italy's GDP was estimated at € 1 trillion in 2021, accounting for 56.5% of the Italian economy. Northern Italy has a rich and distinct culture. Thirty-seven of the fifty-nine World Heritage Sites in Italy are found in
1482-527: A possible name for an independent state in northern Italy, giving the term has carried strong political connotation. For statistical purposes, the Italian National Institute of Statistics uses the terms northwest Italy and northeast Italy for two of Italy's five statistical regions in its reporting. These same subdivisions are used to demarcate first-level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions ("NUTS 1 regions") within
1596-404: A rich and varied influence from several languages in its lexical stock and grammar. These languages include Latin (as Sicilian is a Romance language itself), Ancient Greek , Byzantine Greek , Spanish , Norman , Lombard , Hebrew , Catalan , Occitan , Arabic and Germanic languages , and the languages of the island's aboriginal Indo-European and pre-Indo-European inhabitants, known as
1710-578: A separate language", and it is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO . It has been referred to as a language by the Sicilian Region. It has the oldest literary tradition of the Italo-Romance languages . A version of the UNESCO Courier is also available in Sicilian. Sicilian is spoken by most inhabitants of Sicily and by emigrant populations around the world. The latter are found in
1824-454: A signal". Also possible is schimmenti "diagonal" from Gothic slimbs "slanting". Other sources of Germanic influences include the Hohenstaufen rule of the 13th century, words of Germanic origin contained within the speech of 11th-century Normans and Lombard settlers, and the short period of Austrian rule in the 18th century. Many Germanic influences date back to the time of
1938-671: A significant influence on the Sicilian vocabulary. The following words are of Spanish derivation: Since the Italian Unification (the Risorgimento of 1860–1861), the Sicilian language has been significantly influenced by (Tuscan) Italian. During the Fascist period it became obligatory that Italian be taught and spoken in all schools, whereas up to that point, Sicilian had been used extensively in schools. This process has quickened since World War II due to improving educational standards and
2052-453: A year at 2,000 m (6,600 feet); on the highest peaks of the Alps , snow may fall even during mid-summer, and glaciers are present. Because of high industrialization and the lack of wind due to being closed between mountain ranges air pollution remains a severe problem in northern Italy. Even if smog levels have decreased dramatically since the 1970s and 1980s, in 2005 a team of researchers at
2166-532: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sicilian language Sicilian (Sicilian: sicilianu , Sicilian: [sɪ(t)ʃɪˈljaːnu] ; Italian : siciliano ) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It belongs to the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (in Italian italiano meridionale estremo ). Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered
2280-446: Is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy . The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four northwestern regions of Piedmont , Aosta Valley , Liguria and Lombardy in addition to the four northeastern regions of Trentino-Alto Adige , Veneto , Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna . With a total area of 120,311 km (46,452 sq mi), and
2394-444: Is distinctive for most consonant phonemes, but a few can be geminated only after a vowel: / b / , / dʒ / , / ɖ / , / ɲ / , / ʃ / and / ts / . Rarely indicated in writing, spoken Sicilian also exhibits syntactic gemination (or dubbramentu ), which means that the first consonant of a word is lengthened when it is preceded by words like è, ma, e, a, di, pi, chi - meaning ‘it is, but, and, to, of, for, what’. For instance in
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#17328685783052508-872: Is for humans to live in polluted environments, Chicago Energy Policy Institute has recently developed the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), a system capable of analyzing air pollution worldwide. According to AQLI findings, Po Valley air pollution affects inhabitants so hard that it cuts off about half a year of their life expectancy. The main reasons why there's a big stain of air pollution over the Po Valley are strictly connected to livestock and factories. The so-called "NPK fertilizers", made of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, along with manure emissions from intensive breeding and high levels of nitrogen dioxide released by diesel and petrol engines are all accountable for this disastrous air condition in northern Italy. The region of Lombardy produces also vast amounts of animal waste,
2622-488: Is less clear is the extent to which a Latin-speaking population survived on the island. While a form of Vulgar Latin clearly survived in isolated communities during the Islamic epoch, there is much debate as to the influence it had (if any) on the development of the Sicilian language, following the re-Latinisation of Sicily (discussed in the next section). By AD 1000, the whole of what is today Southern Italy , including Sicily,
2736-463: Is now northern Italy became a Roman province with the name of Gallia Cisalpina ("Gaul on the inner side (with respect to Rome) of the Alps"). In 49 BC, with the Lex Roscia , Julius Caesar granted to the populations of the province full Roman citizenship. The Rubicon River marked its southern boundary with Italia proper. By crossing this river in 49 BC with his loyal XIII Legion , returning from
2850-964: The Alpine regions of Italy, consisting of all of north Italy except for Emilia-Romagna . The regions of northern Italy were exposed to different historical influences, which were due to the peoples and dominations that settled there, such as the Ligures , the Veneti , the Celts , the Etruscans , the Romans , the Byzantines , the Lombards , the Spanish and the Austrians . Some of its woodlands and mountains are preserved in several National Parks ;
2964-504: The Angevin army over the Sicilians at Benevento in 1266 not only marked the end of the 136-year Norman- Swabian reign in Sicily but also effectively ensured that the centre of literary influence would eventually move from Sicily to Tuscany. While Sicilian, as both an official and a literary language, would continue to exist for another two centuries, the language would soon follow the fortunes of
3078-516: The Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani developed an extensive descriptivist orthography which aims to represent every sound in the natural range of Sicilian accurately. This system is also used extensively in the Vocabolario siciliano and by Gaetano Cipolla in his Learn Sicilian series of textbooks and by Arba Sicula in its journal. In initially 2017, with an updated version in 2024
3192-609: The Della Scala of Verona or the Visconti of Milan , and conquered neighbouring cities threatening to unify northern Italy into one kingdom, a revived Lombard empire. In the end, a balance of power was reached in 1454 with the Peace of Lodi and northern Italy ended up divided between a small number of regional states, the most powerful were the Duchies of Savoy , Milan , Mantua , Ferrara and
3306-648: The Elymians arrived between the second and first millennia BC. These aboriginal populations in turn were followed by the Phoenicians (between the 10th and 8th centuries BC) and the Greeks . The heavy Greek-language influence remains strongly visible, while the influences from the other groups are smaller and less obvious. What can be stated with certainty is that in Sicilian remain pre-Indo-European words of an ancient Mediterranean origin, but one cannot be more precise than that: of
3420-584: The European Union , and the Italian constituencies for the European Parliament . In pre-Roman centuries it was inhabited by different peoples among whom the Ligures , the ancient Veneti , who prospered through their trade in amber and breeding of horses, the Etruscans , attested in northern Italy at least since the early Iron Age during the Villanova period , founded the city of Bologna and spread
3534-611: The Frankish king Charlemagne conquered Pavia , deposed Desiderius , the last Lombard king, and annexed the Lombard Kingdom to his empire changing the name in Kingdom of Italy . The former Lombard dukes were mostly replaced by Frankish counts, prince-bishops or marquises. In the 10th century, north Italy, although formally under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire , was included in the kingdom of Italy , of which Pavia remained
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3648-541: The Greek language to a position of prestige, at least on an official level. At this time the island could be considered a border zone with moderate levels of bilingualism : Latinisation was mostly concentrated in western Sicily, largely among the upper class, whereas Eastern Sicily remained predominantly Greek. As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was progressively conquered by Saracens from Ifriqiya , from
3762-573: The Gulf of Trieste is occasionally affected by the cold bora winds in winter and spring. The coldest month is January: the Po valley 's mean temperature is between −1 and 1 °C (30 and 34 °F). Winter morning lows can occasionally reach −30 to −20 °C (−22 to −4 °F) in the Alps and −14 to −8 °C (7 to 18 °F) in the Po valley, with records close to −30 °C (−22 °F) near Bologna during some of
3876-494: The Italian Riviera , including Portofino , Sanremo , and of Cinque Terre . There are many historic cities in this part of Italy: Turin , the manufacturing capital of Italy, Milan , the business and fashion capital of the country and the important port of Genoa are the most popular tourist destinations of the area. Other cities like Aosta , Bergamo , Brescia , Como and Mantua have a rich cultural heritage, which shares
3990-685: The Italian front where many large battles such as the Battles of the Isonzo and the Battle of Monte Grappa took place. Italy would be victorious over Austria-Hungary but at a high price. Between 1943 and 1945, during the Second World War , northern Italy was part of the Fascist Italian Social Republic and the main theatre of the anti-fascist partisan activity . Between April 19 and 25, 1945
4104-534: The Mediterranean climate profile. In the Alpine foothills, characterised by an Oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ), numerous lakes exercise a mitigating influence, allowing the cultivation of typically Mediterranean crops (olives, citrus fruit ). A peculiarity of the regional climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February, especially in the central Po Plain. The east coast, particularly on
4218-521: The North Sea through the basin of the Rhine . On the foothills of the Alps, there are a number of subalpine moraine-dammed lakes, the largest of which is Garda . Other well known of these subalpine lakes are Lake Maggiore , whose most northerly section is part of Switzerland , Como , Orta , Lugano , Iseo , Idro . The climate of northern Italy is mainly humid subtropical ( Köppen Cfa ), especially in
4332-775: The Occitan and Arpitan valleys in western Piedmont, and the Rhaeto-Romance group which includes Friulian and Ladin . Non-Romance languages are also spoken: Germanic languages such as "standard" German and Bavarian in South Tyrol , small Walser communities in Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, and Cimbrian and mocheno in Veneto, Friuli and Trentino. Slavic languages are spoken in Friuli-Venezia Giulia: there are Slovenian minorities in
4446-581: The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute reported that northern Italy was one of Europe's most polluted areas in terms of smog and air pollution due to its climatic and geographic conditions, which cause the stagnation of pollutants. In March 2019, the European Space Agency (ESA) published images took from their satellites. These images show a big stain, made of nitrogen dioxide and fine particles, situated above
4560-535: The Saracens introduced to Sicily their advanced irrigation and farming techniques and a new range of crops, nearly all of which remain endemic to the island to this day. Some words of Arabic origin : Throughout the Islamic epoch of Sicilian history, a significant Greek-speaking population remained on the island and continued to use the Greek language, or most certainly a variant of Greek influenced by Tunisian Arabic. What
4674-576: The Sicels , Sicanians and Elymians . The very earliest influences, visible in Sicilian to this day, exhibit both prehistoric Mediterranean elements and prehistoric Indo-European elements, and occasionally a blending of both. Before the Roman conquest (3rd century BC), Sicily was occupied by various populations. The earliest of these populations were the Sicanians , considered to be autochthonous. The Sicels and
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4788-679: The University of Bologna , the world's oldest university in continuous operation . The increasing richness of the city-states made them able to defy the traditional feudal supreme power, represented by the German emperors and their local vassals. This process led to the creation of different Lombard Leagues formed by allied cities of Lombardy that defeated the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick I , at Legnano , and his grandson Frederick II , at Parma , and becoming virtually independent from
4902-700: The empire collapsed in 476 . After the fall of the Western Empire , northern Italy suffered heavily from destruction brought about by migration from Germanic peoples . In 493 the Ostrogoths managed to create a stable and prosperous kingdom , with its capital first in Ravenna and then in Pavia , but the Gothic War caused the kingdom to fall and devastated the region. In the 570s the Germanic Lombards , or Longobardi, entered northern Italy from Friuli and founded
5016-497: The 13th century. The Northern Italian influence is of particular interest. Even to the present day, Gallo-Italic of Sicily exists in the areas where the Northern Italian colonies were the strongest, namely Novara , Nicosia , Sperlinga , Aidone and Piazza Armerina . The Siculo-Gallic dialect did not survive in other major Italian colonies, such as Randazzo , Caltagirone , Bronte and Paternò (although they influenced
5130-600: The Duke of Montalto. Belpasso is the home to Condorelli , productor of typical Sicilian sweets, exported in all parts of the world, Condorelli is the owner of a bar franchising, mainly located in the Metropolitan City of Catania . Belpasso borders the following municipalities: Adrano , Biancavilla , Bronte , Camporotondo Etneo , Castiglione di Sicilia , Catania , Lentini , Maletto , Mascalucia , Motta Sant'Anastasia , Nicolosi , Paternò , Ragalna , Ramacca , Randazzo , San Pietro Clarenza , Sant'Alfio , and Zafferana Etnea . This Sicilian location article
5244-429: The German emperors. Although having the military purpose as preponderant, the Lombard League also had its own stable government, considered one of the first examples of confederation in Europe. The Leagues failed to develop from an alliance to a lasting confederation and subsequently, among the various local city-states, a process of consolidation took place; most of them became lordships ruled by powerful families like
5358-410: The Po Valley area, which incorporates the city of Milan , Turin , and Bologna . Milan and Turin share high levels of ozone and nitrogen oxides , which are mainly produced by cars diesel and petrol engines. The big stain analyzed by ESA is the main reason why Po Valley air pollution levels are so high it is considered nowadays the worst area in Europe for air quality. To shed light on how dangerous it
5472-526: The Po Valley suffer the most serious impact at the European level due to poor air quality, first of all, the metropolitan area of Milan, thirteenth in the ranking in terms of fine particulate impact, where any year 3967 premature deaths – approximately 9% of the total. Northern Italy is dominated by the Gallo-Italic family of languages , as opposed to the rest of the country where the Italo-Romance languages are spoken, and they include Emilian , Ligurian , Lombard , Piedmontese , and Romagnol . Venetian , on
5586-413: The Republics of Genoa and Venice , which had begun to extend its influence in the mainland from the 14th century onwards. In the 15th century, northern Italy became one of the centres of the Renaissance whose culture and works of art were highly regarded. The enterprising class of the communes extended its trade and banking activities well into northern Europe and " Lombards ", the term that designated
5700-406: The Sicilian language continues to adopt Italian vocabulary and grammatical forms to such an extent that many Sicilians themselves cannot distinguish between correct and incorrect Sicilian language usage. Sicilian has a number of consonant sounds that set it apart from the other major Romance languages, notably its retroflex consonants . Sicilian has five phonemic vowels: / i / , / ɛ / , /
5814-421: The Swabian kings (amongst whom Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor enjoyed the longest reign). Some of the words below are "reintroductions" of Latin words (also found in modern Italian) that had been Germanicized at some point (e.g. vastāre in Latin to guastare in modern Italian). Words that probably originate from this era include: In 535, Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, which returned
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#17328685783055928-442: The area around Milan . More recently, the term Alta Italia (Italian for 'High Italy') became widely used, for such by the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia during the Second World War . In the 1960s, the term Padania began to be sometimes used as a geographical synonym of the Po Valley . The term appeared sparingly until the early 1990s, when Lega Nord , then a secessionist political party, proposed Padania as
6042-399: The canal-filled city of Venice , the cities of Verona , Vicenza , Padua , Trento , Bolzano , Cremona , Bologna , Ferrara , Parma , Ravenna , Cesena , Rimini and Trieste . There are also several mountain ranges such as the Dolomites, the Carnic and Julian Alps and first-class ski resorts like Cortina d'Ampezzo and Madonna di Campiglio. Ligurian cuisine consists of dishes from
6156-411: The capital until 1024, however, gradually, starting from the last decades of the 11th century was in fact divided in a multiplicity of small, autonomous city-states, the medieval communes and maritime republic . The 11th century marked a significant boom in northern Italy's economy, due to improved trading and agricultural innovations, culture flourished as well with many universities founded, among them
6270-418: The cities of northern Italy began an insurrection against Fascist and Nazi forces that led to the liberation of northern Italy by Allied forces. Economic differences between northern Italy and the rest of the country, as well as the short history of Italy as a single nation, led in the 1990s to the emergence of Padanian nationalism , as Lega Nord promoted either secession or larger autonomy for Padania,
6384-543: The city of Senigallia in province of Ancona ) and Tuscany (most of the province of Massa-Carrara and the northernmost areas of Garfagnana in the province of Lucca , but also some parts of the Metropolitan City of Florence ), so these areas are considered linguistically part of northern Italy. In southern Italy Gallo-Italic languages are spoken in some language islands in Basilicata ( Gallo-Italic of Basilicata ) and Sicily ( Gallo-Italic of Sicily ). Other Gallo-Romance languages spoken are Occitan, Arpitan spoken in
6498-429: The coldest winters. Summer is usually more stable, although quite stormy near the Alps, with July temperatures in the range 22–24 °C (72–75 °F) near the Alps or by the sea, like in Milan or Venice , whereas in southern Po plain 24–25 °C (75–77 °F) can be reached, like in Bologna . The number of days with lows below 0 °C (32 °F) is usually from 60 to 90 a year, with peaks of 100–110 days in
6612-450: The conquest of Gaul , Julius Caesar precipitated the civil war within the Roman Republic which led, eventually, to the establishment of the Roman Empire . To this day the term "crossing the Rubicon" means, figuratively, "reaching the point of no return". In late antiquity, the strategic role of northern Italy was emphasized by the moving of the capital of the Western Empire from Rome to Mediolanum in 286 and later to Ravenna from 402 until
6726-400: The countries that attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States (specifically in the Gravesend and Bensonhurst neighborhoods of Brooklyn , New York City , and in Buffalo and Western New York State), Canada (especially in Montreal , Toronto and Hamilton ), Australia , Venezuela and Argentina . During
6840-415: The culinary tradition of Liguria , a region of northwestern Italy , which makes use of ingredients linked both to local production (such as preboggion , a mixture of wild herbs), and to imports from areas with which, over the centuries, the Ligurians have had frequent trade (such as pecorino sardo , one of the ingredients of pesto ). Venetian cuisine , from the city of Venice , or more widely from
6954-563: The definite article: di lu = dû ("of the"), a lu = ô ("to the"), pi lu = pû ("for the"), nta lu = ntô ("in the"), etc. Most feminine nouns and adjectives end in -a in the singular: casa ('house'), porta ('door'), carta ('paper'). Exceptions include soru ('sister') and ficu ('fig'). The usual masculine singular ending is -u : omu ('man'), libbru ('book'), nomu ('name'). The singular ending -i can be either masculine or feminine. Unlike Standard Italian, Sicilian uses
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#17328685783057068-438: The duchies of Spoleto and Benevento . During the late Middle Ages , after the fall of the northern part of the Lombard Kingdom to Charlemagne , the term Longobardia was used to mean northern Italy within the medieval Kingdom of Italy . As the area became partitioned into regional states, the term Lombardy subsequently shifted to indicate only the area of the Duchies of Milan , Mantua , Parma and Modena and later only to
7182-471: The eastern Mediterranean and the discoveries of sea routes to Asia around Africa and the Americas led to the decline of the Venetian Republic. While the Republic of Genoa managed to become the main banking base of the Spanish Empire. Pestilences, like that of 1628/1630 , and the generally declining conditions of Italy's economy in the 17th and 18th centuries halted the further development of northern Italy. The only polity that managed to thrive in this period
7296-584: The eastern regions (including Lombardy) have since become wealthier than Piedmont and Liguria . With a 2021 nominal GDP estimated at €1.0 trillion, northern Italy accounts for 56% of the Italian economy , despite having just 46% of the population. In 2023, the population resident in northern Italy amounts to 27,497,280 inhabitants divided as follows: The most populous cities (with over 100,000 inhabitants) as of 31 July 2021, estimates were: Aosta Valley , Piedmont , Veneto , Trentino Alto-Adige , Liguria , Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Lombardy are known as
7410-450: The education system have been slow. The CSFLS created a textbook "Dialektos" to comply with the law but does not provide an orthography to write the language. In Sicily, it is taught only as part of dialectology courses, but outside Italy, Sicilian has been taught at the University of Pennsylvania , Brooklyn College and Manouba University . Since 2009, it has been taught at the Italian Charities of America , in New York City (home to
7524-425: The exception of part of Liguria all of northern Italy lies in the drainage basin of the Adriatic Sea (with rivers Po, Piave , Adige , Brenta , Tagliamento , Reno ) though the waters from some border municipalities ( Livigno in Lombardy, Innichen and Sexten in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) drain into the Black Sea through the basin of the Danube , and the waters from the Lago di Lei in Lombardy drain into
7638-425: The far south of Italy ( Apulia and Calabria ). It took Roger 30 years to complete the conquest of Sicily (Robert died in 1085). In the aftermath of the Norman conquest of Sicily, the reintroduction of Latin in Sicily had begun, and some Norman words would be absorbed, that would be accompanied with an additional wave of Parisian French loanwords during the rule of Charles I from the Capetian House of Anjou in
7752-435: The first of the modern Italic languages to be used as a literary language . The influence of the school and the use of Sicilian itself as a poetic language was acknowledged by the two great Tuscan writers of the early Renaissance period, Dante and Petrarch . The influence of the Sicilian language should not be underestimated in the eventual formulation of a lingua franca that was to become modern Italian . The victory of
7866-594: The highest death rate from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in Europe. Vicenza ( Veneto ) and Saronno (Lombardy) are respectively in fourth and eighth place in the top ten of ten cities. Turin and Milan are also at the top of the European ranking – 3rd and 5th respectively – in terms of increased mortality from nitrogen dioxide, a gas that derives mainly from traffic and in particular from diesel vehicles, while Verona , Treviso , Padova , Como and Venice rank eleventh, fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth and twentythird respectively. The data show that many cities in
7980-430: The impact of mass media, such that increasingly, even within the family home, Sicilian is not necessarily the language of choice. The Sicilian Regional Assembly voted to make the teaching of Sicilian a part of the school curriculum at primary school level, but as of 2007 only a fraction of schools teach Sicilian. There is also little in the way of mass media offered in Sicilian. The combination of these factors means that
8094-405: The kingdom itself in terms of prestige and influence. Following the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, the kingdom came under the influence of the Crown of Aragon , and the Catalan language (and the closely related Aragonese ) added a new layer of vocabulary in the succeeding century. For the whole of the 14th century, both Catalan and Sicilian were the official languages of the royal court. Sicilian
8208-478: The language in Sicily itself: specifically, the term sìculu originally describes one of the larger prehistoric groups living in Sicily (the Italic Sicels or Siculi ) before the arrival of Greeks in the 8th century BC (see below ). It can also be used as a prefix to qualify or to elaborate further on the origins of a person, for example: Siculo-American ( sìculu-miricanu ) or Siculo-Australian. As
8322-444: The language via any of the major language groups normally associated with Sicilian, i.e. they have been independently derived from a very early Indo-European source. The Sicels are a possible source of such words, but there is also the possibility of a cross-over between ancient Mediterranean words and introduced Indo-European forms. Some examples of Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin: The following Sicilian words are of
8436-452: The largest Sicilian speaking community outside of Sicily and Italy) and it is also preserved and taught by family association, church organisations and societies, social and ethnic historical clubs and even Internet social groups, mainly in Gravesend and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn . On 15 May 2018, the Sicilian Region once again mandated the teaching of Sicilian in schools and referred to it as
8550-491: The last four or five decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the industrial zones of Northern Italy and areas of the European Union . Although the Sicilian language does not have official status (including in Sicily), in addition to the standard Sicilian of the medieval Sicilian school, academics have developed a standardized form. Such efforts began in the mid-19th century when Vincenzo Mortillaro published
8664-472: The local Sicilian vernacular). The Gallo-Italic influence was also felt on the Sicilian language itself, as follows: The origins of another Romance influence, that of Occitan , had three reasons: Some examples of Sicilian words derived from Occitan: It was during the reign of Frederick II (or Frederick I of Sicily) between 1198 and 1250, with his patronage of the Sicilian School, that Sicilian became
8778-514: The mainly rural zones. In the colder winters, the Venice Lagoon may freeze, and in the coldest ones even enough to walk on the ice sheet. Precipitation is evenly distributed during the year, more abundant in spring and autumn at low altitudes and in summer at high elevations; it is more intense in the Prealpine zone, up to 1,500 to 2,000 mm (59 to 79 inches) annually, but is abundant also in
8892-475: The merchants or bankers coming from northern Italy, were present in all of Europe. The Italian Wars between 1494 and 1559 ended the north Italian Renaissance and brought the region to be fought between France and the Spanish and Austrian House of Habsburg . After the decisive Battle of Pavia , most of present-day Lombardy became under the direct or indirect control of Spain . At the same time Ottoman control of
9006-527: The mid 9th to mid 10th centuries. The Emirate of Sicily persisted long enough to develop a distinctive local variety of Arabic, Siculo-Arabic (at present extinct in Sicily but surviving as the Maltese language ). Its influence is noticeable in around 300 Sicilian words, most of which relate to agriculture and related activities. This is understandable because of the Arab Agricultural Revolution ;
9120-728: The name chosen to represent northern Italy. Northern Italy is made of the basin of the River Po , which comprises the whole of the broad plain extending from the foot of the Apennines to that of the Alps , together with the valleys and slopes on both sides of it, the Venetian Plain and the Ligurian coast. Northern Italy has the Alps as the northern and western boundary and the Apennine Mountains as
9234-485: The nonprofit organisation Cademia Siciliana created an orthographic proposal to help to normalise the language's written form. This orthography was used by the organisation in their collaboration with Google to bring the Sicilian Language to Google Translate. The autonomous regional parliament of Sicily has legislated Regional Law No. 9/2011 to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, but inroads into
9348-668: The other hand, has different origins. Its precise place within the Romance language family remains somewhat controversial. Both Ethnologue and Glottolog group it into the Gallo-Italic branch. Devoto , Avolio and Ursini reject such classification, and Tagliavini places it in the Italo-Dalmatian branch of Romance. The Gallo-Italic languages also reach the north of the Marche region in central Italy ( province of Pesaro and Urbino and
9462-502: The parliamentary and court records had commenced. By 1543 this process was virtually complete, with the Tuscan dialect of Italian becoming the lingua franca of the Italian peninsula and supplanting written Sicilian. Spanish rule had hastened this process in two important ways: Spanish rule lasted over three centuries (not counting the Aragonese and Bourbon periods on either side) and had
9576-665: The particular word may even have come to Sicily via another route. For instance, by the time the Romans had occupied Sicily, the Latin language had made its own borrowings from Greek. The words with a prehistoric Mediterranean derivation often refer to plants native to the Mediterranean region or to other natural features. Bearing in mind the qualifiers mentioned above (alternative sources are provided where known), examples of such words include: There are also Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin that do not appear to have come to
9690-498: The phrase è bonu ‘it's good’, there is a doubled /bb/ in pronunciation. The letter ⟨j⟩ at the start of a word can have two separate sounds depending on what precedes the word. For instance, in jornu ("day"), it is pronounced [ j ] . However, after a nasal consonant or if it is triggered by syntactic gemination, it is pronounced [ ɟ ] as in un jornu with [nɟ] or tri jorna ("three days") with [ɟɟ] . Another difference between
9804-477: The plains and Alpine zones, with an average of 600 to 850 mm (24 to 33 inches) annually. The total annual rainfall is on average 827 mm (32.6 inches). Snow is quite common between early December and early March in cities like Turin, Milan and Bologna, but sometimes it appears in late November or late March and even April. Both the Alps and the Apennine can see up to 500–1,000 cm (200–390 inches) of snow in
9918-435: The plains. Winter in northern Italy is normally long, relatively dry and rather cold. In addition, there is a high seasonal temperature variation between summer and winter. In the mountains, the climate is humid continental ( Köppen Dfb ). In the valleys it is cold but usually with low humidity, while it can be severely cold above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), with copious snowfalls. The coastal areas of Liguria generally fit
10032-501: The plural: manu ('hand[s]'), ficu ('fig[s]') and soru ('sister[s]'). Sicilian has only one auxiliary verb , aviri , 'to have'. It is also used to denote obligation (e.g. avi a jiri , '[he/she] has to go'), and to form the future tense, as Sicilian for the most part no longer has a synthetic future tense: avi a cantari , '[he/she] will sing'. As in English and like most other Romance languages, Sicilian may use
10146-540: The province of Trieste, in the eastern parts of those of Udine and Gorizia, and Istria , where the main languages today are Slovene and Croatian but Italian is recognized as a minority language due to the presence of the Istrian Italians . During the Middle Ages , mainly between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, an illustrious vulgar was in use, by the name of "Lombard-Venetian koiné". In medieval sources, it
10260-414: The region of Veneto , has a centuries-long history and differs significantly from other cuisines of northern Italy (notably Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol ), and of neighbouring Austria and of Slavic countries (notably Slovenia and Croatia ), despite sharing some commonalities. Cuisine in Veneto may be divided into three main categories, based on geography: the coastal areas,
10374-413: The region's visitors with beautiful landscapes such as the lakes Garda (with Grottoes of Catullus and Gardone Riviera ), Como (with Bellagio and Varenna ) and Maggiore (with Borromean Islands and Angera ). There are also important ski resorts like Sestriere , Courmayeur , Breuil-Cervinia , Livigno and Bormio . This part of Italy also boasts several important tourist attractions, such as
10488-490: The region. Rhaeto-Romance and Gallo-Italic languages are spoken in the region, as opposed to the Italo-Dalmatian languages spoken in the rest of Italy. The Venetian language is sometimes considered to be part of the Italo-Dalmatian languages, but some major publications such as Ethnologue (to which UNESCO refers on its page about endangered languages) and Glottolog define it as Gallo-Italic. Northern Italy
10602-731: The same standard plural ending -i for both masculine and feminine nouns and adjectives: casi ('houses' or 'cases'), porti ('doors' or 'harbors'), tàuli ('tables'). Some masculine plural nouns end in -a instead, a feature that is derived from the Latin neuter endings -um, -a : libbra ('books'), jorna ('days'), vrazza ('arms', compare Italian braccio , braccia ), jardina ('gardens'), scrittura ('writers'), signa ('signs'). Some nouns have irregular plurals: omu has òmini (compare Italian uomo , uomini ), jocu ('game') jòcura (Italian gioco , giochi ) and lettu ("bed") letta (Italian letto , ' letti ). Three feminine nouns are invariable in
10716-646: The southern one. In between the two mountain ranges lies a large plain made of the Venetian Plain and the valley of the Po , the largest river in Italy, which flows 652 km (405 miles) eastward from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic Sea and receives all the waters that flow from the Apennines northwards, and all those that descend from the Alps towards the south. The Po Valley is the largest plain in Italy and holds
10830-509: The three main prehistoric groups, only the Sicels were known to be Indo-European with a degree of certainty, and their speech is likely to have been closely related to that of the Romans. The following table, listing words for "twins", illustrates the difficulty linguists face in tackling the various substrata of the Sicilian language. A similar qualifier can be applied to many of the words that appear in this article. Sometimes it may be known that
10944-540: The treaty, the Italian Parliament has not ratified it. It is not included in Italian Law No. 482/1999 although some other minority languages of Sicily are. Alternative names of Sicilian are Calabro-Sicilian , sicilianu , and sìculu . The first term refers to the fact that a form of Sicilian is spoken in southern Calabria, particularly in the province of Reggio Calabria . The other two are names for
11058-476: The use of writing; later, starting from the 5th century BC, the area was invaded by Celtic – Gallic tribes . These people founded several cities like Turin and Milan and extended their rule from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea. Their development was halted by the Roman expansion in the Po Valley from the 3rd century BC onwards. After centuries of struggle, probably officially around 81 BC, the entire area of what
11172-455: The vast majority of instances in which the originating word had an initial /i/ , Sicilian has dropped it completely. That has also happened when there was once an initial /e/ and, to a lesser extent, /a/ and /o/ : mpurtanti "important", gnuranti "ignorant", nimicu "enemy", ntirissanti "interesting", llustrari "to illustrate", mmàggini "image", cona "icon", miricanu "American". In Sicilian, gemination
11286-502: The vast majority of the north Italian population. The Alps are home to some worldwide-known mountains like the Matterhorn (Cervino), Monte Rosa , Gran Paradiso in the western Alps, and Bernina , Stelvio and Dolomites along the eastern side of the Alps. The highest peak in Europe is Mont Blanc , at 4,810 m (15,780 feet) above sea level, located at the border with France . With
11400-408: The verb jiri , 'to go', to signify the act of being about to do something. Vaiu a cantari , 'I'm going to sing'. In this way, jiri + a + infinitive can also be a way to form the simple future construction. The main conjugations in Sicilian are illustrated below with the verb èssiri , 'to be'. Extracts from three of Sicily's more celebrated poets are offered below to illustrate
11514-427: The written and the spoken languages is the extent to which contractions occur in everyday speech. Thus a common expression such as avemu a accattari... ("we have to go and buy...") is generally reduced to âma 'ccattari in talking to family and friends. The circumflex accent is commonly used in denoting a wide range of contractions in the written language, particularly the joining of simple prepositions and
11628-485: The written form of Sicilian over the last few centuries: Antonio Veneziano , Giovanni Meli and Nino Martoglio . A translation of the Lord's Prayer can also be found in J. K. Bonner. This is written with three variations: a standard literary form from the island of Sicily and a southern Apulian literary form. Northern Italy Northern Italy ( Italian : Italia settentrionale , Nord Italia , Alta Italia )
11742-490: Was a complex mix of small states and principalities , languages and religions. The whole of Sicily was controlled by Saracens, at the elite level, but the general population remained a mix of Muslims and Christians who spoke Greek, Latin or Siculo-Arabic. The far south of the Italian peninsula was part of the Byzantine empire although many communities were reasonably independent from Constantinople . The Principality of Salerno
11856-587: Was also used to record the proceedings of the Parliament of Sicily (one of the oldest parliaments in Europe) and for other official purposes. While it is often difficult to determine whether a word came directly from Catalan (as opposed to Occitan), the following are likely to be such examples: By the time the crowns of Castille and Aragon were united in the late 15th century, the Italianisation of written Sicilian in
11970-484: Was called by different terms in different periods of history. During ancient times the terms Cisalpine Gaul , Gallia Citerior or Gallia Togata were used to define that part of Italy inhabited by Celts ( Gauls ) between the 4th and 3rd century BC. Conquered by the Roman Republic in the 220s BC, it was a Roman province from c. 81 BC until 42 BC, when it was merged into Roman Italy . Until that time, it
12084-663: Was considered part of Gaul , precisely that part of Gaul on the "hither side of the Alps " (from the perspective of the Romans), as opposed to Transalpine Gaul ("on the far side of the Alps"). After the fall of the Roman Empire and the settlement of the Lombards the name Langobardia Maior was used, in the early Middle Ages , to define the domains of the Lombard Kingdom in northern Italy with capital Pavia . The Lombard territories beyond were called Langobardia Minor, consisting of
12198-550: Was controlled by Lombards (or Langobards), who had also started to make some incursions into Byzantine territory and had managed to establish some isolated independent city-states . It was into this climate that the Normans thrust themselves with increasing numbers during the first half of the 11th century. When the two most famous of Southern Italy's Norman adventurers, Roger of Hauteville and his brother, Robert Guiscard , began their conquest of Sicily in 1061, they already controlled
12312-473: Was destroyed by the lava flows from Mount Etna in 1669. Rebuilt in a lower plain, that habitation was known as Fenice Moncada ; the latter name derives from the family of the Princes of Paterno who owned the feud. This habitation proved malarial and was heavily damaged by the 1693 Sicily earthquake , causing the spot to be abandoned and named Malpasso , and the present town was founded in 1695 in lands belonging to
12426-476: Was simply called "written language" or Lombard, because the toponym "Lombardy" was then used to indicate the entire region of northern Italy. This literary koiné manifested itself with authors such as Bonvesin da la Riva , Giacomino da Verona , Uguccione da Lodi , Girardo Patecchio , etc. Northern Italy is the most developed and productive area of the country, with one of the highest GDPs per capita in Europe . It
12540-448: Was substantially reduced. However, from the late 19th century and especially with the economic boom of the 1950s–1960s , northern Italy and especially the cities of Turin, Genoa, and Milan was the most important region in the Italian industrialization and sharpened its status of richest and most industrialized part of Italy. During World War I Italian and Austro-Hungarian fought in brutal Mountain warfare between 1915 and 1918 on
12654-576: Was the Savoy's state which, thanks to military and diplomatic victories in 1720, managed to acquire the island of Sardinia , through which the then Dukes gained legitimacy as a proper Kingdom and increased Turin's importance as a European capital. After the French Revolution in the late 18th century northern Italy was conquered by the French armies, many client republics were created by Napoleon and in 1805
12768-430: Was the first part of Italy to become industrialised in the last half of the 19th century; the so-called industrial triangle was formed by the manufacturing centres of Milan and Turin , as well as the seaport of Genoa . Since then, the industrial core of the area has shifted eastward; the current industrial triangle consists of Lombardy , Veneto , and Emilia-Romagna . A similar shift happened for GDP per capita, and
12882-479: Was the state that launched Italy's unification in 1859–1861. After defeating the Austrians in 1859 and annexing northern Italy the new state proceeded to launch a campaign to conquer southern and central Italy and Turin briefly became the capital of the almost whole of Italy . After Italian unification the capital was moved from Turin to Rome and the administrative and institutional importance of northern Italy
12996-597: Was under Austrian rule , either direct like in the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom or indirect like in the Duchies of Parma and Modena . Bologna and Romagna were given to the Papal State . The Austrian imperial government was unpopular because of their anti-liberal politics and northern Italy became the intellectual centre leading the Italian unification process . Piedmont and the Kingdom of Sardinia, in particular,
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