The Peoples of Sicily: A Multicultural Legacy

Can the eclectic history of the world’ s most conquered island be a lesson for our times?

Home to Normans, Byzantines, Arabs, Germans and Jews, medieval Sicily was a crossroads of cultures, ethnicities and faiths. Here, where Europe, Asia and Africa met, was the epitome of diversity. Bilingualism was the norm, women's rights were defended, and the environment was protected. Literacy soared, while philosophy, science and the arts triumphed.

Kings like Roger II, whose legal code of 1140 famousl...