were idolized as defenders of the oppressed.
The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 assigned Sicily to Victor Amedeus, Duke of Savoy. He could not adjust himself to the extravagance of the barons and remained unpopular with them. In 1720 the Habsburgs of Austria obtained control of Sicily but lost the island to Spain. Spanish rule lasted until Garibaldi and the Red Shirts arrived in Marsala in 1860. The plebiscite of October 1860 ended the insularity of Sicily and led to its annexation to Piedmont. Later, it became a part of the Kingdom of Italy under Victor Emanuel II. Sicily had come full circle. After centuries of foreign occupations and colonizations, Sicily ended up with perhaps an inevitable Italian identity politically and administratively.
Giuseppe di Lampedusa writes in his masterpiece The Leopard that Sicilians maintain “una insularità d’animo,” an insularity of the soul wherever they go and live.
It is against this historical backdrop that Professor Salvatore Mondello’s variegated and multi-thematic book should be read and understood. The work underscores that time and distance are irrelevant in remembering and recreating a Sicilian experience. Sicilian traditions, culture and mentality are timeless and Sicilian “insularity” is transmitted generation after generation and remains an on-going process. Professor Mondello, a Sicilian American born and raised in New York City, discovered his “sicilianità” in an American city far from Sicily. His family’s traditions were permeated by a “sicilianità” that preserved the spirit, lifestyle, character and culture of the Mediterranean island.
The most revealing aspects of Mondello’s work are the uncom-