Why do Italians from the island Sicily tend to believe they are better than the rest of Italy?

Answer 1

Hello everyone. I was born and raised in Sicily so I thought I should have a shot at answering the original question. First of all, I want to point out that the comment about Sicily being "an autonomous territory, like Puerto Rico is to the US" is incorrect. It is true that the Italian Constitution recognizes to five of the 20 regions of Italy special conditions of autonomy, but these conditions are, politically speaking, very weak and superficial. Additionally, none of the five regions (Sicily, Sardinia, Trentino, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Aosta Valley) really cares about enforcing these provisions, which were granted shortly after World War II. The comment about the Sicilian culture not being "technically Italian" is disparaging to all Italians. Italy is the great country that it is today because of the cultural and historical contribution of ALL of its regions. If you were to deprive Italy of one of its regions, you'd spoil the original "recipe". Finally, it's not true that Southern Italians are looked down upon by Northern Italians (and vice versa). It was true when, in the post-War era, many southern Italians moved to northen regions of Italy to seek a job, but that was many decades ago and I don't believe it still applies today. I say this from experience as I lived in northern Italy myself for many years during my college years. Additionally, I have family members and several friends who are from different regions of Italy (Lombardy, Tuscany, Lazio and Sicily). This is the Italy that I know from my personal experience, not from Wikipedia or Google. But going back to the original question, I'm assuming that the person posted it because he/she has probably heard many Sicilians like to "brag" about their island. I admit doing the same from time to time. For instance, all Sicilians believe that Sicilian cuisine, and in general Southern Italian cuisine, is the best in Italy. Same goes for the weather, the beaches, the scenaries, the women ...etc... and the list goes on and on. This doesn't mean we're the best in Italy (how can you be "better" by simply being from a region?). It's just an indication of how much we love our region, and we like to share our passion with others.

Answer 2

Sicily is an autonomous territory, like Puerto Rico is to the US. The culture isn't technically Italian, but a diverse mix of all sorts of things--Arab, Greek, Persian, Norman, and most recently Italian. Sicilians are proud of the diversity I believe. Only recently has Italy had a wave of immigration from other countries, and they don't really deal with it as well as Sicily does. I can tell you from experience that people from Sicily are much more accepting of differences than mainland Italians are, probably because the culture is so diverse.

And the idea that the people in the northern areas have of "pure blood" is so 1930s Germany.

Answer 3

I don't think they do believe this. Have you gone to Italy and taken a conclusive scientifically valid poll across the entire island of Sicily and determined through this that "Italians from the island Sicily tend to believe they are better than the rest of Italy"? If not, then how can you say they believe this in the first place? How can you even say "TEND to" ?? Again, how many native-born Italians from Sicily have you polled which actually leads you to believe they "tend" toward anything ?

If anything, being Italian-American myself (father born in "southern Italy", but not on the island), and having spent a lot of time in the country, I personally have always gotten the feeling that the Northern Italians are the ones who have a bit of an "attitude" towards anyone from south of Rome, basically. They used to say things like, ' When they united Italy in 1861 they didn't really unite Italy, they divided north Africa'. When Italians began coming to the US en masse it was the Northern Italians who insisted that anyone from the "mezzogiorno" regions (that is, the regions that are south of Rome , and much poorer, more rural and isolated) , be considered to be from an entirely different nation than them.

Even today, in Italy, there are still bigoted Northerners (ironically they're bigoted against their own people), such as the "Lega Nord" for example, which seek to actually separate Italy at Rome (or right thereabouts). These Italians are aspiring to be like Germans or Swiss or Austrians, and they wish to detach themselves from their actual heritage; the sad fact is, they will never be truly accepted by those people from those other countries either because , one way or the other, if a German or an Austrian does not like Italians (which is fairly common, and vice-versa is common as well) , then they will never "accept" even a Northern Italian as being anything other than a "blonde haired blue-eyed dago", or "wog" or what-have-you.

But, in all my experiences over there, the real hospitality, and warmth and friendliness, etc, the best food, women, weather, scenery, music, you name it, the real ITALY is all in the regions from Rome and south (or , southeast, technically-speaking). The Northerners over there are usually the ones, if anyone , who "tend to believe they are better than the rest of Italy". That's a fact.

Answer 4

There is a lot of prejudice in Italy between the different areas. The Sicilians consider themselves to "more Italian" while the northern sections consider themselves a higher social class an kind of look down their noses at the southern sections of Italy.

Answer 5

Well...the background and the culture are very rich being the product of populations such as: Normans, Phoenecians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, French, and Spanish. They are Italians and they love their island with great passion. So I don't know if Sicilians feel they are better than other Italians, but from personal experience I can tell you they feel their food is superior :-)

Answer 6

I think it is a habit that they picked up after centuries of all other Italians telling them that they are just ignorant savages and hoodlums. They are trying to over-correct for that.

Answer 7

In sicily I had the superb holidays of my existence! large beaches, nutrition and pleasant human beings! Mafia loves vacationer, is between the important earning: they construct this kind of large number of motels and resorts: Mafia will preserve you ;)

Answer 8

Since the rest of Italy hates their guts and considers them low-class, peasant, red-neck slobs, they HAVE to have this attitude about themselves.

Answer 9

Cause if you tell them your opinion differs you might wake up with a horeses hean under the bedsheets.