Wedding Bella Sicily ...

SICILIANS SAY that Sicily has the most beautiful sky in the world...

...and certainly the island enjoys more than 2,000 hours of sunshine per year, more than any other part of Europe. The climate is generally mild, but it can get hot in high summer. In 1885 the temperature rose to 49.6 ° C ( 121.3 °F ), the highest ever recorded in Italy. However, winters can be cold and snowy, especially inland. A land of ancient customs and deep-rooted beliefs, Sicily has preserved most of its traditional celebrations, almost all of them religious in nature.

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and it is the focal point and is known as the " Heart of the Mediterranean ". Because of its strategic position, in the middle of the Mediterranean, Sicily has always been fought over by leading powers . Its history is therefore one of successive waves of foreign domination : Greek tyrants, Roman proconsuls and barbarian chieftains, then the Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, the Angevin and Aragonese dynasties, the Spanish viceroys and then the Bourbons, the last foreign rulers in Sicily before Italy was unified.

Sicily is also the largest region in Italy ( 25,708 sq km, 9,923 sq miles ) and the third most highly populated with more than five million inhabitants. The terrain is mostly hilly - the plains and plateaus make up only 14 per cent of the total land area. The most interesting features of the mountain zones are the volcanoes, especially Mount Etna, which is the largest active volcano in Europe.

Besides Sicily itself, the Region of Sicily includes other smaller islands: The Aeolian Islands,Ustica, the Egadi Islands, Pantelleria and the Pelagi Islands with Lampedusa which along with Crete is the southernmost point in Europe.

Palermo is the Sicilian Regional Capital,and with its population of almost 900,000 is the fifth largest city in Italy after Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin.