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This poem by Cicero, from De Legibus, written about Sicily
more than 2000 years ago
expresses how I felt, when at at age of 56, I first saw
Siclia, the land of my grandparents and ancestors.
We walk
Between the high poplars
Along the banks
Shimmering emerald, opaque
We have arrived at the island.
There is nothing
More beautiful than this:
Here it is
That the Fibreno opens
Like a bird's beak.
Here is my real home
And my brother's too.
From here we spring
From ancient stock;
Here all that we call holy.
Here our relations,
Here so many memories
Of our ancestors.
This is the map of Sicily from the Vatican Gallery of Maps, created at the wish of Pope Gregory XIII. It is derived from Giacomo Gastaldi's Descrittione della Sicilia con le sue isole... about 1570.
Our family lived in the North East section of the
island.
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