Are Sicilians Southwest Europeans or Southeast Europeans?

[Lauχum]

They can't be SW Euro. End story. SW Europe consists of S. France (including Corsica) and Iberia. Sardinians are on the edge.

Corsicans are Central Italian genetically and culturally, and geographically the island is closer to mainland Italy than to mainland France or Iberia. So if North-Central Italy isn't SW Europe then neither is Corsica.

[Sikeliot]

I don't agree. Spanish influences can be observed in the sicilian language, the food, the family names, the architecture. They had an enormous influence on Sicily.

In my hometown (I will not mention all the other places all over Sicily) we have spanish churches, we have food inherited from the spanish, we also have many people with spanish family names, we have a lot of catalan and spanish words in the sicilian language and we have the most famous chocolate in Sicily taken by the spanish directly from the Mayas of South America, which it's the first chocolate ever in Europe.

The Moncadas, one of the most powerful spanish family in Sicily. And again the Cabrera. Many sicilians were married to spanish princes and nobles. We have deep ties with the spanish.

We have so many similarities that you can't even imagine.

Some elements yes, but not all. I think it is over exaggerated, and the main similarity is religion and language family. Much of Sicilian music sounds more similar to SOME styles of Greek music (not the more Balkan sounding stuff with Ottoman influences) than to anything Spanish. Food varies -- more similar to traditional south Italian in the east of the island, and more North African influenced in the west. Spanish family surnames are not common (how many people with names like Fernandez and Lopez do you see in Sicily -- very few, and many surnames have been Italicized like Cortez --> Cortese), and they don't imply Spanish ancestry.

There are places in Sicily where it can be observed but much of the similarity in far western Sicily (Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento) is more a "Moorish Spain" or "Andalusian" feeling created by shared North African cultural influences.

These pictures of western Sicily give a North African/"Moorish Spain" feeling, not a Catholic European Spain one... and these are not ancient landmarks, but everyday streets:

[donriccardo]

Arabs have had influences on Sicily but not as much as you think. I used to be a tourist guide in Sicily for a very long time and I am very passionate about my own culture, which has nothing to do with middle east culture. We had more spanish-greek-norman influences than arabs (which after all I consider a great culture). Yes they have been there but what you can feel today in Sicily is not arabian culture. Sicilian people are very traditionalist (I am the exception and I chose to live in Asia because I love to embrace cultural differences) and they are very proud of their western culture.

The pictures that you posted are only a part of Sicily (If I am not mistaken those pictures are of Caltanissetta). Not all Sicily looks like that. I wonder if you ever been to Sicily...

[Sikeliot]

Arabs have had influences on Sicily but not as much as you think. I used to be a tourist guide in Sicily for a very long time and I am very passionate about my own culture, which has nothing to do with middle east culture. We had more spanish-greek-norman influences than arabs (which after all I consider a great culture). Yes they have been there but what you can feel today in Sicily is not arabian culture. Sicilian people are very traditionalist (I am the exception and I chose to live in Asia because I love to embrace cultural differences) and they are very proud of their western culture.

The pictures that you posted are only a part of Sicily (If I am not mistaken those pictures are of Caltanissetta). Not all Sicily looks like that. I wonder if you ever been to Sicily...

Not all Sicily has that vibe but the far west does. It's noted in travel guides and by tourists often, you likely can't sense it because you're adapted to it.

Norman culture has left little influence today, Sicilians don't speak French or have cultural elements with Scandinavia.

If western Sicily feels completely "western" to you then you're choosing not to see something that many others can clearly see.

[donriccardo]

I will share more about Sicily later. From pictures of people to places, foreign influences in food, language and architecture...

[Tauromachos]

I don't agree. Spanish influences can be observed in the sicilian language, the food, the family names, the architecture. They had an enormous influence on Sicily.

In my hometown (I will not mention all the other places all over Sicily) we have spanish churches, we have food inherited from the spanish, we also have many people with spanish family names, we have a lot of catalan and spanish words in the sicilian language and we have the most famous chocolate in Sicily taken by the spanish directly from the Mayas of South America, which it's the first chocolate ever in Europe.

The Moncadas, one of the most powerful spanish family in Sicily. And again the Cabrera. Many sicilians were married to spanish princes and nobles. We have deep ties with the spanish.

From what i have heard once there is even a legend that the Italian mafia was founded by three Spanish knights

One went to Sicily and founded the Cosa Nostra

One went to Napoli and founded the Ghamorra

One went to Calabria or Apulia and founded the Ndrangheta

[Sikeliot]

From what i have heard once there is even a legend that the Italian mafia was founded by three Spanish knights

One went to Sicily and founded the Cosa Nostra

One went to Napoli and founded the Ghamorra

One went to Calabria or Apulia and founded the Ndrangheta

This isn't true. Anyway I do not see that Sicily has that much Spanish influence culturally. If it shows up anywhere it would be in some of the music, but you find this more in Naples than in Sicily.

My understanding of Sicily is that the east of the island feels more similar to other parts of southern Italy and probably some Greek regions, whereas western Sicily does have more of the vibe of being in a MENA country but Catholic, Latin speaking, and with significant influences from Europe that have overridden large parts of that influence which was once more prominent.

See the following photos comparing eastern to western Sicily... eastern Sicily has significant Spanish and Greek influence in its architectural styles, western Sicily has very blockish buildings resembling those in some MENA countries, and the overall vibe.

So I definitely am not saying Arab influences are present in all Sicily or Spanish is lacking, but western Sicily definitely has a different and less European "vibe" than the east.

EAST:

Spoiler!

WEST:

Spoiler!

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[chociprasa]

Southwestern Europeans.

[Cumansky]

Not that simple