VOL.99/2026.10

 

[New Ways of Walking Through Cities ⑨]

An Island With a History Rougher Than Any Storm at Sea: Sicily

 

2025.09.04

 

 

Is there any nation whose history runs smoothly from start to finish? Every chapter of human history bears its share of scars?wars, invasions, and natural disasters. In Sicily, those scars are carved deeper and are easier to see. In the 8th century BCE, the island was settled by the Greeks; later, it became a Roman province, remembered as the granary of the empire. After the fall of Rome and the great migrations of the Germanic peoples, the island became a prize fought over by the Islamic powers of North Africa and the Byzantine Empire. By the 9th century, it had become an Islamic emirate; in the late 11th century, the Normans seized it and founded the Kingdom of Sicily. For the next 200 years, the island was ruled by the Normans, followed by roughly 400 years under the Spanish crown. Eventually, it became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Regno delle Due Sicilie), later the Kingdom of Italy, and?after World War II?remained within the Republic of Italy.
Tracking the countless footsteps of conquerors alone is enough to show how turbulent Sicily’s history has been. Even during World War II, the Allies and the Germans fought bitter battles here. Why was this small island so coveted? Anyone who has set foot on its soil might have an idea.

 

A history washed in tears

 

 

The author, a professor at Yonsei University’s College of Theology, has long introduced Italian culture to Korean audiences. Holding a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary for research on religious exchange between Renaissance Italy and late Ming China, he finds Sicily both part of Italy and somehow apart from it. In Sicily Does Not Believe In Tears (Sigongsa), he delves into the island’s painful past, shedding light on truths often hidden from outsiders. In the prologue, he notes that Sicilians often look as if they are angry?something he attributes to a chronic shortage of basic necessities, especially water. The closer you get to the island’s interior, the more severe the scarcity becomes, and those who have suffered under it are many. When such hardship is compounded by foreign invasions, people either resign themselves to it or close ranks and hide what they can. Those who chose the latter eventually formed vigilante groups?groups that later became the Mafia.

 

 

Prime Minister Benito Mussolini had dispatched Cesare Mori, the so-called Iron Prefect, to wipe out the Mafia. Brutal raids and mass arrests followed, forcing many to America?just in time for Prohibition, which became their golden age. Bootlegging made them rich, and their influence grew. Without Prohibition, some argue, the Mafia might have been nothing more than a band of small-time thugs. American creators?especially those of Italian descent?began producing a wide range of cultural works inspired by them, drawn to the powerful symbolism they carried as an immigrant community and to the striking irony their very existence posed to the era.

 

Sicily as portrayed in film

 

 

Hollywood may rule the global box office, but many of its most influential directors have Italian roots: Sergio Leone, creator of Spaghetti Western, one of the genres of Western film; Martin Scorsese, one of cinema’s most celebrated auteurs; and Francis Ford Coppola, who forever changed film history with “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now.”
Of these, “The Godfather” imprinted the image of the Mafia?and of Sicily?on audiences worldwide. The Mafia is a ruthless and treacherous organization bound together by family ties?willing to commit any manner of evil or crime to amass wealth and power, yet doomed to meet an inevitable and tragic end, dwelling in the shadows. They also embody the fate of immigrants destined never to truly join the mainstream. Yet the Sicily that Michael Corleone?played by Al Pacino?flees to is bright and joyful, a place of warm human connections and fleeting love. This is why, for fans of “The Godfather,” Sicily has become a kind of pilgrimage site.
A devoted fan of “The Godfather,” the author has spent over three decades living and working abroad, traveling extensively, and writing numerous travel essays, while also appearing on television travel programs. Entering his later years, he rewatched the film, which inspired him to journey to Sicily. In A Journey Through Sicily, the Island of Cinema (Idam Books), he recounts encounters with “The Godfather” at locations all across the island.

 

 

Before his trip, people around him warned him to “always be careful” in Sicily. What he found instead was a warm, welcoming place for tourists. According to the author, while the popularity of films such as “The Godfather,” “Cinema Paradiso,” and “Mal?na” has certainly contributed to the growth of tourism, those who visit Sicily alone or in small groups are rewarded with hospitality more memorable than anywhere else. And, he adds, such warm welcomes are never complete without food.

 

The kitchen of the gods

 

 

For Korean classical music fans, KBS Classic FM is the station they love most. The author is the writer of “All the Music in the World (Sesangui Modeun Eumak; 세상의 모든 음악),” a radio program that greets listeners winding down from their day between 6 and 8 pm. In Twelve Check-Ins (Nicke Books), he captures the tastes and landscapes of Sicily with his characteristic sensitivity. Among them, the island’s signature dessert?lemon granita, made by freezing lemon syrup and scraping it into delicate crystals with the back of a fork?was so memorable that it made him long to return. The same, he says, could be said of many other Sicilian dishes.

 

 

Sicilian cuisine is often regarded as both the origin and the essence of Italian cooking. Its fertile, ash-rich volcanic soil has long provided the foundation for a food culture enriched by the many nations and peoples who have occupied the island. Even pasta, one of Italy’s most iconic dishes, is thought to have begun here in the 10th century?born from the meeting of olives and pistachios planted by the Greeks with noodles that traveled from Central Asia through Europe. Saffron brought by the Arabs and tomatoes introduced from the New World later expanded its varieties and deepened its flavors. The Mediterranean yields an abundance of seafood that graces Sicilian tables, while ricotta cheese?created as a source of protein in a land ill-suited to raising livestock?has long given travelers renewed strength. Sicilians like to say, “Any food that’s been in the refrigerator is already dead.” The author finds himself sharing in their pride and love for their cuisine, as well as in the deep respect owed to a people whose history has been one in which survival itself was the very purpose of life.

 

 

For nearly 2,800 years, countless peoples, nations, dynasties, and armies have passed through Sicily, leaving behind traces that endure to this day. Though its history is steeped in sorrow, those who visit come to understand why it has been so turbulent?because Sicily’s beauty runs deeper and shines brighter than almost anywhere else. When the great German writer Goethe visited Sicily in April 1787, he famously declared, “Here lies the key to everything.”
Harsh and arid, Sicily has never known a truly friendly foreign power; for many, leaving has been a lifelong wish. Yet it is called the “kitchen of the gods,” the very foundation not only of Italian cuisine but of European cooking as a whole. This cannot be explained simply by the excellence of its grains, fruits, and dairy. Perhaps it is because life here has been defined by survival itself?because of the pure affection for people, carried in the rough yet warm hands that serve its food, hands that offer something beyond the physical and chemical taste, something profoundly human.

 

 

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Written by Jung Hwan-Jung