List of Sicilians
Encyclopedia
This is a list of Sicilian people. Sicily
is the largest region in Italy and has special conditions of autonomy, with a population of over five million and has contributed many famous names to all walks of life. Sicilian was for a long time a nationality rather than just a regional title and is still considered to be so by many people, especially Sicilians themselves.
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
is the largest region in Italy and has special conditions of autonomy, with a population of over five million and has contributed many famous names to all walks of life. Sicilian was for a long time a nationality rather than just a regional title and is still considered to be so by many people, especially Sicilians themselves.
Philosophers, scientists and thinkers
- EmpedoclesEmpedoclesEmpedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four Classical elements...
(c. 490 – 430 BC), scientist and philosopher - GorgiasGorgiasGorgias ,Greek sophist, pre-socratic philosopher and rhetorician, was a native of Leontini in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger...
(c. 483 – 375 BC), philosopher - ArchimedesArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
(c. 287 – 212 BC), engineer and mathematician - Muhammad al-IdrisiMuhammad al-IdrisiAbu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani al-Sabti or simply Al Idrisi was a Moroccan Muslim geographer, cartographer, Egyptologist and traveller who lived in Sicily, at the court of King Roger II. Muhammed al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta then belonging to the Almoravid Empire and died in...
(1100 – 1166 AD), geographer and author of Tabula RogerianaTabula RogerianaThe Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi'khtiraq al-afaq lit. "the book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands", most often known as the Tabula Rogeriana , is a description of the world and world map created by the Arab geographer, Muhammad al-Idrisi, in 1154... - Constantine the AfricanConstantine the AfricanConstantine the African was a Tunisian doctor of the eleventh century. The first part of his life was spent in Tunisia and the rest in Italy. In Salerno, Italy, he became a professor of medicine and his work attracted widespread attention...
(c. 1020 – 1087), physician and translator - Giovanni AurispaGiovanni AurispaGiovanni Aurispa was an Italian historian and savant of the 15th century. He is remembered in particular as a promoter of the revival of the study of Greek in Italy. It is to Aurispa that the world is indebted for preserving the greater part of our knowledge of the Greek classics.-Life:He was...
(1376 – 1459), anthropologist - Francesco MaurolicoFrancesco MaurolicoFrancesco Maurolico was a Greek mathematician and astronomer of Sicily. Throughout his lifetime, he made contributions to the fields of geometry, optics, conics, mechanics, music, and astronomy...
(1494 – 1575), mathematician - Giuseppe PiazziGiuseppe PiazziGiuseppe Piazzi was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer. He was born in Ponte in Valtellina, and died in Naples. He established an observatory at Palermo, now the Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo – Giuseppe S...
(1746 – 1826), astronomer, discovered the minor planet Ceres - Niccolò CacciatoreNiccolò CacciatoreNiccolò Cacciatore was an Italian astronomer.Cacciatore was born at Casteltermini, in Sicily. While studying mathematics and physics in Palermo, he became acquainted with Giuseppe Piazzi, head of the Palermo Astronomical Observatory, and became a graduate student assistant at the observatory in...
(1780 – 1841), astronomer - Stanislao CannizzaroStanislao CannizzaroStanislao Cannizzaro, FRS was an Italian chemist. He is remembered today largely for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860.-Biography:...
(1826 – 1910), chemist - Giuseppe SergiGiuseppè SergiGiuseppe Sergi was an influential Italian anthropologist of the early twentieth century, best known for his opposition to Nordicism in his books on the racial identity of ancient Mediterranean peoples...
(1841 – 1936), anthropologist - Ettore MajoranaEttore MajoranaEttore Majorana was an Italian theoretical physicist who began work on neutrino masses. He disappeared suddenly in mysterious circumstances. He is noted for the eponymous Majorana equation and for Majorana fermions.-Gifted in mathematics:Majorana was born in Catania, Sicily...
(1906 – ?), physicist - Giovanni GentileGiovanni GentileGiovanni Gentile was an Italian neo-Hegelian Idealist philosopher, a peer of Benedetto Croce. He described himself as 'the philosopher of Fascism', and ghostwrote A Doctrine of Fascism for Benito Mussolini. He also devised his own system of philosophy, Actual Idealism.- Life and thought :Giovanni...
(1875 – 1944), philosopher
Religious figures
- Saint Agatha (231 – 351AD), martyr
- Saint LucySaint LucySaint Lucy , also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are...
(283 – 304AD), martyr - Saint Vito (c. 290 – c. 290AD), martyr
- Saint LucySaint LucySaint Lucy , also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are...
(283 – 304AD), martyr - Pope Leo IIPope Leo II-Background and early activity in the Church:He was a Sicilian by birth , and succeeded Agatho. Though elected pope a few days after the death of St. Agatho , he was not consecrated till after the lapse of a year and seven months...
, Pope from 682 to 683
Writers
- StesichorusStesichorusStesichorus was the first great poet of the Greek West. He is best known for telling epic stories in lyric metres but he is also famous for some ancient traditions about his life, such as his opposition to the tyrant Phalaris, and the blindness he is said to have incurred and cured by composing...
(c. 640 – 555 BC), poet - TimaeusTimaeus (historian)Timaeus , ancient Greek historian, was born at Tauromenium in Sicily. Driven out of Sicily by Agathocles, he migrated to Athens, where he studied rhetoric under a pupil of Isocrates and lived for fifty years...
(c. 345 – 250 BC), historian - TheocritusTheocritusTheocritus , the creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, flourished in the 3rd century BC.-Life:Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems commonly attributed to him have little claim to...
(c. 310 – 250 BC), poet - Diodorus SiculusDiodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...
(c. 90 – 30 BC), historian - Giacomo da LentiniGiacomo da LentiniGiacomo da Lentini, also known as Giàcumu da Lintini and Jacopo Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. He was a senior poet of the Sicilian School and was a notary at the court of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II...
(1210 – 1260), poet - Guido Delle ColonneGuido delle ColonneGuido delle Colonne was an early 13th century Sicilian writer, living at Messina, who wrote in Latin...
(1215 – 1290), poet - Giovanni Luca BarberiGiovanni Luca BarberiGiovanni Luca Barberi was an Italian historian. He was born and lived in Sicily all of his life.His writing was particularly important in compiling the list of feudal and noble titles in Sicilian history.-See also:*Monarchia Sicula...
(1452 – 1520), historian - Tommaso FazelloTommaso FazelloTommaso Fazello was an Italian Dominican friar, historian and antiquarian. He is known as the father of Sicilian history. He is the author of the first printed history of Sicily: De Rebus Siculis Decades Duae, published in Palermo in 1558 in Latin...
(1498 – 1570), historian - Antonio Veneziano (1543 – 1593), poet
- Giuseppe Tomasi di LampedusaGiuseppe Tomasi di LampedusaGiuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa , was a Sicilian writer. He is most famous for his only novel, Il Gattopardo which is set in Sicily during the Risorgimento...
(1896 – 1957), writer, poet - Giovanni MeliGiovanni MeliGiovanni Meli was a Palermitan Sicilian poet and man of letters. After studying philosophy and medicine he worked as a doctor in Cinisi in the province of Palermo...
(1740 – 1815), poet - Luigi CapuanaLuigi CapuanaLuigi Capuana was an Italian author and journalist and one of the most important members of the Verist movement. He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having been born in the province of Catania within a year of each other. He was also one of the first authors influenced by the works of...
(1839 – 1915), writer - Maria Messina (1880 – 1944), short story writer and novelist
- Giovanni VergaGiovanni VergaGiovanni Carmelo Verga was an Italian realist writer, best known for his depictions of life in Sicily, and especially for the short story "Cavalleria Rusticana" and the novel I Malavoglia .-Life and career:The first son of Giovanni Battista Catalano Verga and Caterina Di Mauro,...
(1840 – 1922), novelist - Giuseppe PitrèGiuseppe PitrèGiuseppe Pitrè , the great Italian folklorist was also a medical doctor, professor, and senator in Sicily. As a folklorist he is credited with extending the realm of folklore to include all the manifestations of popular life. He was also a forerunner in the field of medical historyPitrè was born in...
(1841 – 1916), historian - Luigi PirandelloLuigi PirandelloLuigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
(1867 – 1936), dramatist, Nobel laureateNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"... - Julius EvolaJulius EvolaBarone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...
(1898 – 1974), political philosopher - Ignazio ButtittaIgnazio ButtittaIgnazio Buttitta was a Sicilian dialectal poet.-Biography:Born at Bagheria into a poor family, after having taken part in World War I Buttitta joined the Italian Socialist Party and around this time started to write poetry in Sicilian. His first volume of poetry published was Sintimintali ,...
(1899 – 1997), poet - Salvatore QuasimodoSalvatore QuasimodoSalvatore Quasimodo was an Italian author and poet. In 1959 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times". Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he is one of the foremost Italian poets...
(1901 – 1968), poet, Nobel laureateNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"... - Vitaliano BrancatiVitaliano BrancatiVitaliano Brancati was an Italian writer. He was born in Pachino and died in Turin. In 1950 he won the Bagutta Prize.-Selected bibliography:* Don Juan in Sicily * The Handsome Antonio...
(1907 – 1954), writer - Elio VittoriniElio VittoriniElio Vittorini was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel Conversations in Sicily, for which he was jailed when it was published in 1941. The first U.S...
(1908 – 1966), writer - Gesualdo BufalinoGesualdo BufalinoGesualdo Bufalino , was an Italian writer.Gesualdo Bufalino was born in Comiso, Sicily. He studied literature and was, for most of his life a high-school professor in his hometown...
(1920 – 1996), writer - Leonardo SciasciaLeonardo SciasciaLeonardo Sciascia was an Italian writer, novelist, essayist, playwright and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including Open Doors and Il giorno della civetta .- Biography :Sciascia was born in Racalmuto, Sicily...
(1921 – 1989), writer and politician - Giuseppe FavaGiuseppe FavaGiuseppe Fava , also known as Pippo, was an Sicilian writer, investigative journalist, playwright and Antimafia activist who was killed by the Mafia. He was the founder of the I Siciliani monthly magazine...
(1925 – 1984), writer and dramatist - Andrea CamilleriAndrea CamilleriAndrea Camilleri is an Italian writer.-Biography:Originally from Porto Empedocle, Sicily, Camilleri, began studies at the Faculty of Literature in 1944, without concluding them, meanwhile publishing poems and short stories.From 1948 to 1950 Camilleri studied stage and film direction at the Silvio...
(born 1925), novelist
Politicians
- Dion of SyracuseDion of SyracuseDion , tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily, was the son of Hipparinus, and brother-in-law of Dionysius I of Syracuse.-Family:Dion was the son of the Syracusan statesman Hipparinus, who had assisted the despot Dionysius I, in the Syracusan army. Hipparinus' other children were Megacles and Aristomache...
(408 – 354 BC), politician and friend of PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the... - Hassan al-KalbiKalbidsThe Kalbids were a Shia Muslim dynasty in Sicily, which ruled from 948 to 1053 .In 827, in the midst of internal Byzantine conflict, the Aghlabids arrived at Marsala in Sicily, with a fleet of 10,000 men under the command of Asad ibn al-Furat. Palermo was conquered in 831 and became the new capital...
(r. 948 – 964 AD), founder of the Emirate of SicilyEmirate of SicilyThe Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:... - Roger II of SicilyRoger II of SicilyRoger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily...
(1095 – 1154), founder of the Kingdom of SicilyKingdom of SicilyThe Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy... - Henry AristippusHenry AristippusHenry Aristippus of Calabria, sometimes known as Enericus or Henricus Aristippus, was the archdeacon of Catania and later chief familiaris of the triumvirate of familiares who replaced the Emir Maio of Bari as chief functionaries of the kingdom of Sicily in 1161...
(c. 1155), archdeaconArchdeaconAn archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
and chancellorChancellorChancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the... - Maio of BariMaio of BariMaio of Bari , a Lombard merchant's son from Bari, was the third of the great admirals of Sicily. An ammiratus ammiratorum, or "Emir of Emirs," he was the most important man in the kingdom save the king himself. After the deposition and execution of Philip of Mahdia , the admiralcy was vacant for...
(d. 1160), emirEmirEmir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
and admiral - Giuseppe La FarinaGiuseppe La FarinaGiuseppe La Farina was an influential leader of the Italian Risorgimento.Minister of Cavour, was highly involved in Garibaldi's departure for Sicily. Ostensibly sent by Cavour to dissuade Garibaldi from going, he in fact did little of the sort...
(1815 – 1863), politician - Francesco CrispiFrancesco CrispiFrancesco Crispi was a 19th-century Italian politician of Arbëreshë ancestry. He was instrumental in the unification of Italy and was its 17th and 20th Prime Minister from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896.-Sicily:Crispi’s paternal family came originally from the small agricultural...
(1819 – 1901), politician - Ruggero Settimo (1776 – 1863), politician
- Vittorio Emanuele OrlandoVittorio Emanuele OrlandoVittorio Emanuele Orlando was an Italian diplomat and political figure. He was born in Palermo, Sicily. His father, a landed gentleman, delayed venturing out to register his son's birth for fear of Giuseppe Garibaldi's 1,000 patriots who had just stormed into Sicily on the first leg of their march...
(1860 – 1952), politician - Ugo La MalfaUgo La MalfaUgo La Malfa was an Italian politician, and an important leader in the Italian Republican Party, of which his son, Giorgio La Malfa, is now president.- Early years and anti-Fascist resistance :...
(1903 – 1979), politician - Giorgio La PiraGiorgio La PiraGiorgio La Pira was an Italian politician who served as mayor of Florence twice . He also served as deputy of the Christian Democratic Party and participated in the assembly that wrote the Constitution of Italy after World War II...
(1904 – 1977), politician - Giovanni FalconeGiovanni FalconeGiovanni Falcone was an Sicilian/Italian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily...
(1939 – 1992), judge - Paolo BorsellinoPaolo BorsellinoPaolo Borsellino was an Italian anti-Mafia magistrate who was killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, less than two months after his fellow anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone had been assassinated....
(1940 – 1992), judge - Luigi SturzoLuigi SturzoDon Luigi Sturzo was an Italian Catholic priest and politician. Known in his lifetime as a "clerical socialist," Sturzo is considered one of the fathers of Christian democracy. Sturzo was one of the founders of the Partito Popolare Italiano in 1919, but was forced into exile in 1924 with the rise...
(1871 – 1959), politician - Rocco ChinniciRocco ChinniciRocco Chinnici was a noted Italian Antimafia magistrate killed by the Mafia.-Life:Born at Misilmeri, Chinnici graduated in law at the University of Palermo in 1947 and started working as a magistrate in 1952 in Trapani. In 1966 he moved to the prosecutors office in Palermo...
(1925 – 1983), judge - Peppino Impastato (1948 – 1978), journalist and political activist
- Piersanti MattarellaPiersanti MattarellaPiersanti Mattarella was an Italian politician. He was assassinated by the Mafia while he held the position of President of the Regional Government of Sicily.-Background and early career:...
(1935 – 1980), politician
Painters, sculptors and architects
- Antonello da MessinaAntonello da MessinaAntonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance...
(1430 – 1479), painter - Antonello GaginiAntonello GaginiAntonello Gagini was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance, mainly active in Sicily and Calabria.Antonello was a member of a family of sculptors and artisans, originally from Northern Italy, but active throughout Italy, including Genoa, Florence, and Rome. The family includes his father, Domenico...
(1478 – 1536), sculptor - Giovan Battista Filippo Basile (1825 – 1891), architect
- Filippo JuvarraFilippo JuvarraFilippo Juvarra was an Italian architect and stage set designer.-Biography:Filippo Juvarra was an Italian Baroque architect working in the early part of the eighteenth century. He was born in Messina, Sicily, to a family of goldsmiths and engravers...
(1678 – 1736), architect - Giovanni Battista VaccariniGiovanni Battista VaccariniGiovanni Battista Vaccarini was an Italian architect, notable for his work in the Sicilian Baroque style in his homeland during the period of massive rebuilding following the earthquake of 1693. Many of his principal works can be found in the area in and around Catania.- Biography :Vaccarini was...
(1702 – 1768), architect - Pietro NovelliPietro NovelliPietro Novelli was an Italian painter of the Baroque period,active mainly in Palermo. Also known as il Monrealese or Pietro "Malta" Novelli to distinguish him from his father, Pietro Antonio Novelli....
(1603 – 1647), painter - Giacomo SerpottaGiacomo SerpottaGiacomo Serpotta was an Italian sculptor, active in a Rococo style and mainly working in stucco.Serpotta was born and died in Palermo; and may have never left Sicily. His skill and facility with stucco sculpture appears to arise without mentorship or direct exposures to the mainstream of Italian...
(1656 – 1732), sculptor - Renato GuttusoRenato GuttusoRenato Guttuso was an Italian painter.His best-known paintings include Flight from Etna , Crucifixion and La Vucciria . Guttuso also designed for the theatre and did illustrations for books...
(1912 – 1987), painter - Ernesto BasileErnesto BasileErnesto Basile was an Italian architect and an exponent of modernism and Art Nouveau. He became well-known because of his stylistic fusion of ancient, medieval and modern elements. He was one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau in Italy.- Life :He was born on January 31, 1857 in Palermo...
(1857 – 1932), architect - Giorgio de ChiricoGiorgio de ChiricoGiorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
(1888 – 1978), painter - Manfredi BeninatiManfredi BeninatiManfredi Beninati is an Italian artist born in Palermo in 1970.A contemporary figurative painter, his oeuvre also covers installations, drawings, sculpture and collage.-Biography:...
(1970), visual artist
Musicians
- Vincenzo BelliniVincenzo BelliniVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
(1801 – 1835), opera composer - Sigismondo d'IndiaSigismondo d'IndiaSigismondo d'India was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the most accomplished contemporaries of Monteverdi, and wrote music in many of the same forms as the more famous composer.-Life:D'India was probably born in Palermo, Sicily in 1582, though...
(1582 – 1629), composer - Alessandro ScarlattiAlessandro ScarlattiAlessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
(1660 – 1725), composer - Giuseppe Di StefanoGiuseppe Di StefanoGiuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. He was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voice", as the true successor of Beniamino Gigli...
(1921 – 2008), operatic tenor - Salvatore AdamoSalvatore AdamoSalvatore, Knight Adamo, simply known as Adamo is a Belgian – Italian composer and singer of ballads, mainly in French, but also in other languages such as German, Italian and Spanish. He had commercial success during the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, but...
(born 1943), singer - Salvatore SciarrinoSalvatore SciarrinoSalvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...
(born 1947), composer - Franco BattiatoFranco BattiatoFrancesco Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes...
(born 1945), musician, filmmaker - Frédéric FrançoisFrédéric FrançoisFrédéric François is a Belgian – Italian singer, born in Sicily, near Palermo.-Biography:In 1952, his family left his village to settle in Wallonia, Tilleur . When he was 12, he bought a guitar and sang at night in cabarets after work at the mine, with his father...
(born 1950), singer - Lucia AlibertiLucia AlibertiLucia Aliberti is a prominent Sicilian soprano opera singer. She is much appreciated for her performances of the bel canto roles of , Bellini, Gioacchino Rossini, Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Vivaldi, Mercadante, etc.A dramatic soprano of vocal agility, Lucia Aliberti was awarded...
(born 1963), operatic soprano - Mario Venuti (born 1963), musician
- Carmen ConsoliCarmen ConsoliCarmen Consoli is an Italian singer-songwriter. She has released 7 studio albums and 2 live albums.-Life and biography:Consoli was born in Sicily, near the city of Catania, in the small town of San Giovanni La Punta...
(born 1974), musician - Fabio RizzoMarracashFabio Rizzo , better known by his stage name Marracash, is an Italian rapper. He is also a member of the Milan-based rap group Dogo Gang.-Biography:...
(born 1979), rapper - Romina ArenaRomina ArenaRomina Arena is an Italian-American Popera / Operatic pop /Pop Classical Crossover singer songwriter. She was born May 12, 1980 and grew up in Palermo Sicily and now lives in Los Angeles California...
(born 1980), singer
Actors, directors and producers
- Adolfo CeliAdolfo CeliAdolfo Celi was an Italian film actor and director.-Life and career:Born in Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 movies, specializing in international villains. His most famous role was as Emilio Largo in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball...
, actor (27 July 1922 –19 February 1986) - Henry ArmettaHenry ArmettaHenry Armetta was an Italian movie character actor who appeared in at least 150 films, starting in silents as early as 1915 to a movie released in 1946, after his death.-Biography:...
, actor (4 July 1888 - 21 October 1945) - Frank CapraFrank CapraFrank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
(1897 – 1991), actor, director - Lando BuzzancaLando BuzzancaGerlando Buzzanca is an Italian comedy actor.He left high school in Palermo when he was 16 years old, and moved to Rome to pursue his dream of becoming an actor...
(born 1938), actor - Tony SperandeoTony SperandeoTony Sperandeo is an Italian actor of cinema and television. Sperandeo is notable for frequently playing the roles of characters from his native region, Sicily...
(born 1953), actor - Giuseppe TornatoreGiuseppe Tornatore-Life and career:Born in Bagheria near Palermo, Tornatore developed an interest in acting and the theatre from at least the age of 16 and put on works by Luigi Pirandello and Eduardo De Filippo.He worked initially as a freelance photographer...
(born 1956), director - Anna KanakisAnna KanakisAnna Kanakis to a Greek father and an Italian mother, is an Italian actress and model.She was Miss Italy in 1977...
(born 1962), model, actress - Maria Grazia CucinottaMaria Grazia CucinottaMaria Grazia Cucinotta is an Siciian/Italian actress who has featured in many films and television series since 1990, she has also worked as a producer, screenwriter and model....
(born 1969), actress - Daniele GangemiDaniele Gangemi-Biography:His debut film, Cobalt blue night, is interpreted by actors Corrado Fortuna, Regina Orioli, Valentina Carnelutti and Alessandro Haber. The music carry the signature of Giuliano Sangiorgi of Negramaro.- Director and Writer :...
(born 1980), director - Francesco BenignoFrancesco BenignoFrancesco Benigno , is an Italian actor of television, cinema and theatre. He is also a singer, and has directed a short film for which he won the Grifoni D'argento Award .- Career :...
, (born 1967), actor - Salvatore TerminiSalvatore TerminiSalvatore Termini is an Italian actor best known for his role as Giovanni Trapani, nicknamed King Kong in two Italian language dramatic films directed by Marco Risi, "Mery per sempre", in which Termini made his acting debut, and its sequel, "Ragazzi fuori". They were both set in Palermo where...
, (born 1968), actor - Giuseppe FiorelloGiuseppe FiorelloGiuseppe Fiorello, also known as Beppe Fiorello or Fiorellino , is an Italian actor of the cinema and television. He usually performs in the starring roles, and has been described as the "number one in Italian fiction"....
, (born 1969), actor
Others
- Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743 – 1795), traveller and occultist
- Salvatore GiulianoSalvatore GiulianoSalvatore Giuliano was a Sicilian peasant. It has been suggested that the subjugated social status of his class led him to become a bandit and separatist. He was mythologised during his life and after his death...
(1922 – 1950), bandit - Michael Cusmano (born 1992), baseball player
- Josephine TerranovaJosephine TerranovaJosephine Pullare Terranova was the defendant in a sensational murder trial in New York City in 1906. After years of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her aunt and uncle, the 17 year old Terranova stabbed the pair to death...
(1889 – 1981), accused murderess - Nino VaccarellaNino VaccarellaNino Vaccarella is an Italian former sports car racing and Formula One driver, born in Palermo, Sicily.-Synopsis:After winning the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, the former headmaster of a nearby school became the local hero of the Targa Florio race after winning in 1965, then repeating in 1971 and...
(born 1933), racecar driver - Ferdinando Scianna (born 1943), photographer
- Domenico DolceDolce & GabbanaDolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house. The company was started by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Milan, Italy. By 2005 their turnover was €597 million....
(born 1958), fashion designer - Angelo d'ArrigoAngelo d'ArrigoAngelo d'Arrigo was an Italian aviator, of French origin, who held a number of world records in the field of flight, principally with microlights and hang gliders, with or without motors. He has been referred to as the "Human Condor".D'Arrigo was born in Catania, Sicily...
(1961 – 2006), aviator - Salvatore AntiboSalvatore AntiboSalvatore Antibo is a former long distance runner from Italy.-Career:Antibo was born on February 7, 1962 in Altofonte, within the province of Palermo ....
(born 1962), runner - Salvatore SchillaciSalvatore SchillaciSalvatore Schillaci , commonly referred to by his nickname Totò is a former Italian football player. During his career, he played for Messina , Juventus , Internazionale and Júbilo Iwata...
(born 1964), football player - Giuseppe GibiliscoGiuseppe GibiliscoGiuseppe Gibilisco is an Italian pole vaulter, who won the 2003 World Championships with a personal best of 5.90 m. He followed this with a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics.-Career:...
(born 1979), pole vaulter - Eva RiccobonoEva RiccobonoEva Riccobono is an Italian model.- Biography :Riccobono was born in 1983 in Palermo, the largest city in Sicily. She has three older sisters and a brother who died when she was four...
(born 1983), supermodel - Fabrizio CoronaFabrizio CoronaFabrizio Corona is an Italian photographer, television and media personality who made his debut as an actor in 2010.-Career:Corona was born in Catania, Sicily to a family of journalists, the son of Vittorio and Gabriella Corona...
(born 29 March 1974), photographer, actor, and television personality - Rosario FiorelloRosario FiorelloRosario Tindaro Fiorello , known just as Fiorello, is an Italian comedian, singer, radio and television presenter.-Career:...
(born 1960), singer, and television personality - Dario E. M. Consoli (born 1961), mediologistMediologyMediology , broadly indicates a wide-ranging method for the analysis of cultural transmission in society and across societies, a method which challenges the conventional idea that 'technology is not culture'...
, authorAuthorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, ghostwriterGhostwriterA ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
, and attorneyAttorney at lawAn attorney at law in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of clients. Alternative terms include counselor and lawyer...
(specialisation in Communication law) - Laura LanzaLaura LanzaLaura Lanza, Baroness of Carini was a noblewoman in Carini, Sicily who was murdered, allegedly by her father, for having committed adultery.-Laura's murder:...
, Baroness of Carini (1529 – 1563), noblewoman
See also
- Sicilian-Americans
- List of Sicilian-Americans