Should Sicily receive independence from Italy and join with Malta?

[Virtuous]

When the South of Italy improves in some way, it could be a boon for Malta to join- obviously they are similar in culture. Of course, protection of the unique Maltese language (Punic?) should be priority as official language status along with Sicilian.

Add Calabria and possibly Apulia to the union as well. Hypothetically speaking it would be a good match. However, I don't know if Sicily is ready for this kind of thing.

Malta-Sicily union without Malta losing it's name (not only that) is already hard, go figure Southern Italy. You're not understanding Sikeliot's point, Sicily's past is as a matter of fact Maltese, it all faded with the Italian occupation.

[Sikeliot]

Malta-Sicily union without Malta losing it's name (not only that) is already hard, go figure Southern Italy. You're not understanding Sikeliot's point, Sicily's past is as a matter of fact Maltese, it all faded with the Italian occupation.

Yes. I'll give a parallel to make it clear.

Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire (three states in the northern New England) are culturally very close to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland in Canada. Imagine that those three Canadian provinces became annexed to Quebec, and became French-speaking, and nothing changed about northern New England.

It is likely that people from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland would look to northern New England, in the US, and think "That is what our culture would have been if those damn Québécois didn't annex us!"

If Sicilians started speaking Maltese that'd be enough for me honestly because at least it originated on the island and not in Tuscany.

[Virtuous]

Yes. I'll give a parallel to make it clear.

Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire (three states in the northern New England) are culturally very close to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland in Canada. Imagine that those three Canadian provinces became annexed to Quebec, and became French-speaking, and nothing changed about northern New England.

It is likely that people from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland would look to northern New England, in the US, and think "That is what our culture would have been if those damn Québécois didn't annex us!"

Pretty much it . Though I don't want to create tensions between Malta and Italy by calling them damned, our relations are good .

[Sikeliot]

I was just saying it for emphasis. I love Italy and Italian culture. I just want to hold onto the things that make Sicily unique.

I said "those damn Quebecois" because my experience with French-Canadians has been bittersweet.

A similar sentiment I have sensed, but not heard explicit, is some Piedmontese people feeling like Occitans and believing that their true history lies with Occitan-speaking southern France and not with Lazio and Calabria.

[Scholarios]

Okay. I was viewing it kind of opposite, as simply Maltese culture was influenced by Sicilian, but not that the Maltese are actually the true Sicilians. Fascinating.

Is this a well-known part of the Maltese national narrative?

[Sikeliot]

Okay. I was viewing it kind of opposite, as simply Maltese culture was influenced by Sicilian, but not that the Maltese are actually the true Sicilians. Fascinating.

Is this a well-known part of the Maltese national narrative?

Another way to view it is that Malta is Sicily stuck in time. That's how it is described here:

http://www.bestofsicily.com/malta.htm

People probably know that the other island is similar to them, but I don't know how many people know the complete history.

[Twistedmind]

I tought Sicilains speak their own language (tough Romance), same as Calabrians and Apulians?

[Sikeliot]

I tought Sicilains speak their own language (tough Romance), same as Calabrians and Apulians?

It's dying out.

[Virtuous]

and I used to think of it as a joke when I said Sicily je Malta .

I'm curious what Sicilians think about it, how would they vote. I think a good portion of them would decide just to take indipendence, not to join with Malta (not being aware that they have much more in common with us than with Italy). Maybe I'm wrong about it, dunno.

[Sikeliot]

and I used to think of it as a joke when I said Sicily je Malta .

I'm curious what Sicilians think about it, how would they vote. I think a good portion of them would decide just to take indipendence, not to join with Malta (not being aware that they have much more in common with us than with Italy). Maybe I'm wrong about it, dunno.

Depends on how much they care about cultural identity. Those who are happy being "Italian" would not want independence. Those who want independence but for economic reasons would see no reason to unite with Malta.

I used to believe that all of southern Italy (Calabria, Sicily, Apulia, Basilicata) should separate and restore the Greek language and Greek Orthodoxy, but I realized that doing so would be even more difficult. I think I have evolved from seeing Sicilians as "Italianized Greeks" to seeing them as a complex mixture of groups that should, simply, have done a better job of preserving a distinct culture and not so easily accepting Tuscan as its language.

alfieb, another Sicilian American from ABF, was very pro-Maltese.