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Sicily is not a region like the others
Sicily has been Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, Swabian, Spanish and Bourbon, and all of it is still visible: Greek temples at Agrigento better preserved than anything in Greece, Norman cathedrals decorated by Arab craftsmen at Monreale, baroque towns rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake. The food carries the same layers — couscous in Trapani, sweet-and-sour caponata, saffron and pine nuts and raisins from the Arab centuries, and granita with brioche eaten for breakfast in summer. It is one of five Italian regions with special autonomy, it has its own language rather than a dialect, and Sicilians will often say they are going to Italy when they take the ferry north. Etna, which Alex climbed, is Europe's largest active volcano and erupts often enough that flights into Catania are canceled several times a year, while the towns on its slopes continue farming the soil precisely because the ash makes it extraordinary. The trip by train from Rome is itself worth noting: the carriages are loaded onto a ferry at Villa San Giovanni and shunted across the strait, one of the last places in Europe where that still happens.