SICILY THE LARGEST MEDITERRANEAN ISLAND

Sicily (Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy in Europe. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest surface area with 25,708 km² and currently has more than five million inhabitants. It is also the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, though several much smaller islands surrounding it are also considered part of Sicily.

Throughout much of its history, Sicily has been considered a crucial strategic location due in large part to its importance for Mediterranean trade routes. The area was highly regarded as part of Magna Graecia, with Cicero describing Siracusa as the greatest and most beautiful city of all Ancient Greece.

Although a region of Italy today, Sicily was once its own country as the Kingdom of Sicily, ruled from Palermo. The kingdom originally ruled over the island, the southern Italian peninsula and Malta before the Sicilian Vespers. It later became a part of the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons, with the capital in Naples rather than Sicily. Since that time the Italian unification has taken place and Sicily is now a fully fledged part of Italy.

Sicily is considered to be highly rich in its own unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, cuisine, architecture and even language. The Sicilian economy is largely based on agriculture (famously orange and lemon orchards); this same rural countryside has attracted significant tourism in the modern age as its natural beauty is highly regarded. Sicily also holds importance for archeological and ancient sites such as the Necropolis of Pantalica and the Valley of the Temples.

Hope you enjoy the pics (taken from flickr.com):lol:
Let's start with the most touristic part of the island
Taormina






































Towards Catania (2nd largest city of the island, metropolitan population: 800.000)





I'm not gonna post pics of Catania cos there's already this Thread for that
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=577382

Siracusa (4th largest city and for many travellers the most beautiful city of the island)




















Caltagirone









soon I'm gonna post pics of other places and Palermo
:lol::lol::lol: