Sicily - Demographics

Demographics

The people of Sicily are often portrayed as very proud of their island, identity and culture, and it is not uncommon for people to describe themselves as Sicilian in preference over the more national description of Italian. Despite the existence of major cities such as Palermo, Catania, Messina and Syracuse, popular stereotypes of Sicilians commonly allude to ruralism; for example the tascu (derived from the flat cap of rural Northern England which arrived in 1800 when Bourbon king Ferdinand I had fled to Sicily and was protected by the British Royal Navy) is one of the main symbols of Sicilian identity, .

Sicily received a variety of different cultures, including the original Italic people, the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Saracens, Spaniards, French, and Normans, each contributing to the island's culture, particularly in the areas of cuisine and architecture. Ethnic Sicilians are descended from the native Sicani people, early Greek settlers, Romans, and other Italic tribes. Sicilian people tend to most closely associate themselves with other southern Italians, with whom they share a common history. The island of Sicily has a population of approximately five million, and there are an additional ten million people of Sicilian descent around the world, mostly in North America, Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, and other European and Latin American countries. Like the rest of southern Italy, immigration to the island is very low compared to other regions of Italy because workers tend to head to Northern Italy instead, due to better employment and industrial opportunities. The most recent ISTAT figures show around 100 thousand immigrants out of the total five million population (nearly 2 percent of the population); Romanians with more than 17 thousand make up the most immigrants, followed by Tunisians, Moroccans, Sri Lankans, Albanians, and others mostly from Eastern Europe.