In the millennia prior to the unification of Italy, parts of the island were under Phoenician, Greek, Byzantine, Muslim, Norman, French, and Spanish control. This occurred both sequentially and simultaneously. New cultures and political regimes supplanted and sometimes also co-existed alongside their predecessors with the continued use of languages, religions, administrators, artists, and builders.
At the crossroads
Sicily was a bridge between Africa and Europe as well as a gateway between east and west. Until the modern era, travel and transport by sea were far more efficient and comfortable than travel by land, so the location of Sicily in between two continents and the two halves of the Mediterranean Sea made it a priceless strategic location. The island was also a major source of wheat and olive oil, and traders have long used
