Collecting coins and connecting collectors : government and social networks in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816-1860)

Recent archival research has revealed new data on the history of collecting and archaeology in northern Sicily during the nineteenth century, when Sicily was ruled by the Bourbons and annexed to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Records show how collectors, dealers and diggers operated in this historical context, and authorities dealt with illegal excavations, acquisition of collections and exportations of finds abroad. The main scope of this paper is to pinpoint an unexpected system of networks in Bourbon Sicily, focused on two principal case studies. First of all, I outline the so-called ‘Network of state authorities’, which comprises regional and local authorities dealing with the supervision and management of Sicilian antiquities. Archival research has clarified how the Bourbons undertook accurate and careful safeguarding to achieve this aim and to protect the archaeology. To explore this, I use the valuable case study of Giuseppa Giammone (1832), who found and collected ancient coins in Giarre (Catania) without reporting them to the local authorities

Hoffmeister in his Proving Ground: Sicily, July–August 1943

Lieutenant-Colonel Bert Hoffmeister established his reputation as an able battlefield commander in Sicily. In the Campaign to wrest the Italian island from the Axis Powers, he fought with skill and courage. Both were important; commanders not only have to be technically competent at managing the men and resources under their command, they also have to able to do it when shells are falling and soldiers are dying. In the combat crucible of Sicily, Hoffmeister demonstrated his ability to do both

Law and Institutions: two reasons for Sicilian backwardness?

Many reasons for the low level of local development in Sicily have been advanced through the years, often connected to historical and geographical explanations. More frequently the reasons of the backwardness (better low rate of development) is connected to high level of crime and of mafia phenomenon, or to structural grounds (first of all, Sicily is an island) and intra regional markets’ dimensions. Little space, instead, has been devoted to institutions and law and to the effectiveness of legislative self-government. In ours paper we will slight the constitutional profile trying, instead, to answer, with the typical approach of the economic analysis if is it possible that some reasons of the backwardness of Sicilian economic development are hidden just in this constitutional diversity of Sicily.

Morphological variation of the newly confirmed population of the javelin sand boa, Eryx jaculus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Serpentes, erycidae) in Sicily, Italy

The presence of the Javelin sand boa in Sicily has recently been confirmed. Here the morphological characters and sexual dimorphism of the Sicilian population of Eryx jaculus are presented. Seven meristic and six metric characters in 96 specimens from Sicily were examined. The results show that tail length, snout-vent length, the distance between nostrils and the number of ventral and subcaudal scales are different between sexes. The characters found in the Sicilian population of the Javelin sand boa resemble those of the African population (ssp. jaculus) rather than the Eurasian population (ssp. turcicus), but biomolecular studies are necessary to understand its taxonomic identity

Occurrence, distribution and bibliography of the medicinal leech Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 (Hirudinea, Hirudinidae) in Sicily (Italy)

The occurrence of the medicinal leech Hirudo verbana in the inland waters of Sicily has been lately overlooked. In the present note, the occurrence and distribution of this species is reviewed based both on the review of the available literature data and field collecting. Although a noteworthy reduction in the distribution range of the species seems to have taken place in Sicily in the course of the XX century, Hirudo verbana was confirmed to be still present in several sites located both within and out of Natura2000 sites. The Sicilian populations of the species should be included in the frame of the monitoring activities established by the Article 17 of the EU Council Directive 92/43/EEC (“Habitats Directive”)

Shermans in Sicily: The Diary of a Young Soldier, Summer 1943

Fifty five years ago, one of the biggest news stories of the summer was the invasion of Sicily by Allied Forces. For some, the memories will never fade because they were in the front lines of the first successful Allied push into occupied Europe. Jack Wallace of Nepean remembers Sicily the way it was 55 years ago—the stifling heat, the billowing clouds of dust and the rugged mountain terrain. At the time, Wallace was a 23-year-old lieutenant commanding a squadron of Sherman tanks with the Three Rivers Regiment. The battle for Sicily—“the soft underbelly of fascism” as Churchill called it—was the first taste of war for Wallace and many other young Canadian, American and British soldiers. Memories of the Sicilian campaign are still sharp for Wallace. Shortly after the war, he wrote a diary chronicling his experiences in Sicily as a favor to the parents of Mickey Dawson, a close friend. Dawson, a 24-yearold lieutenant, served alongside Wallace in Sicily and was killed in France after D-Day in 1944. Wallace enlisted at 18 and received a commission with The Royal Canadian Dragoons. In January, 1941 he was transferred to The Three Rivers Regiment. Wallace and Dawson trained together in England and Scotland before embarking in June 1943 for the invasion of Sicily. Wallace’s diary presents a soldier’s-eye-view of one of the lesser known Canadian campaigns of the Second World War. What follows are excerpts from Jack Wallace’s personal war diary