If Sicily has ever called to you from the corner of a postcard, a movie scene, or the scent of tomato sauce drifting from a kitchen window, it’s because this island doesn’t simply exist. It speaks.
It whispers in Greek myths and Baroque balconies, in the shadow of Etna, in markets that feel like theatre, and in that unmistakable Sicilian way of living as if tomorrow is a rumor.
These 10 Quotes about Sicily are small doorways into that feeling: the awe, the nostalgia, the hunger, the wild beauty — the sense that you’ve arrived somewhere ancient, dramatic, and completely alive.
Some of these voices belong to writers who walked these streets centuries ago, others to modern storytellers who tasted Sicily and never quite recovered (in the best possible way). Together, they capture what photos often miss: the island’s soul.
Its contradictions, its tenderness, its boldness, its irresistible pull. Read them slowly… and don’t be surprised if, by the last quote, you’re already planning your first espresso in Ortigia, a sunset in Taormina, or a long, lazy lunch that turns into dinner without anyone noticing.
“This is the homeland of the Gods of Greek mythology. Near these places, Pluto abducted Persephone from her mother. In this wood we just walked through, Ceres ceased her swift-running and tired of her fruitless search, sat on a rock, and despite being a goddess, she wept, the Greeks say, since she was a mother. In these valleys, Apollo pastured his flocks; these groves, stretching down to the seashore, have echoed with Pan’s flute; the nymphs got lost under their shade and breathed their scent. Galatea fled from Polyphemus and Acis, close to succumbing to the blows of his rival, enthralled these shores leaving his name here… In the distance, you can see the lake of Hercules and the rocks of the Cyclops. Land of gods and heroes!”
– Alexis De Tocqueville, Viaggio in Sicilia
“Sicilians build things like they will live forever and eat like they will die tomorrow.”
– Plato
“The South of #Italy and Sicily were a gift from the gods to the Greeks.”
– Salvatore Furnari, Historian
“Sicily has suffered 13 foreign dominations from which she has taken both the best and the worst. The sequence of different cultures has made Sicily a fascinating place, quite unlike any other.”
– Andrea Camilleri
“And anyone who has once known this land can never be quite free from the nostalgia for it.”
– D. H. Lawrence
“I love Sicily. It’s beautiful. It’s old. It’s Italy, but it’s not.”
– Anthony Bourdain
“All of #Sicily is a dimension of the imagination.”
– Leonardo Sciascia
“Were a man to spend only one day in Sicily and ask, “What must one see?” I would answer him without hesitation, “Taormina”.”
– Guy de Maupassant
“The climate’s delicate; the air most sweet.
Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing
The common praise it bears.”– Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale Act 111, Scene 1
“The lovliest region of Italy: a stunning orgy of colors, scents, and lights… a great delight”
– Sigmund Freud