Sicilian Breakfast

Just imagine walking down a narrow cobblestone street in Monreale, Sicily.  You can hear the church bells in the distance.  The air is crisp and the sun is shining.  As you turn the corner, the smell of fresh baked bread grabs your nostrils as if you were a cartoon character in the sixties.  Next to the bakery there is someone making a breakfast sandwich.  It's a chickpea patty placed in a warm roll.  The textures and buttery flavors blend to make the most wonderful breakfast that is unique to western Sicily (and maybe some areas of Brooklyn). Pane Panelle.
 

Sicily: Our 51st State?

Salvatore Giuliano

FBI, CIA, Lucky Luciano, Salvatore Giuliano and General Patton are all players in this amazing story of how Sicily almost became our 51st State.  It starts at the beginning of WWll, just weeks after Pearl Harbor,  after a suspicious fire in the Brooklyn Navy Yard destroyed a merchant ship.. This spurred an effort to prevent sabotage by German spies who infiltrated the shipyards.  The CIA partnered with Lucky Luciano to investigate shipping personell and monitor suspicious activity.  In 1943, Patton went to Luciano for help with the invasion of Italy. Patton relied on Luciano's connections with Sicilian friends.



Invasion of Sicily

Meanwhile, in Sicily, the leader of the Sicilian Independence Movement, Salvatore Giulano met with CIA and US Government officials to assist the US invasion of Europe from North Africa.  Giuliano, considered a Robin Hood like hero, objected to northern Italian exploitaion of Sicilian resources while Sicilian farmers starved.  In 1943 when the Allied forces invaded at the Gulf of Gela, the Sicilian Independence Movement cleared  roads of snipers and mines that facilitated Patton's take over of Palermo in just 4 days.

To the US, Sicily was a mouth-watering jewel in the Mediterranean.  The Germans had the same idea.  Sicily, was historically the bread basket of the Roman Empire and many empires to follow.  It had many trade and strategic implications that made it attractive.  Many believe thant Luciano, Patton, Guiliano and US officials had plans for Sicily to become a US State.  In fact, a US flag with 51 stars was designed and circulated in Sicily.



51 Stars

In the end, the invasion of Sicily was key the Allied victory in Europe : in part because of direct access to Germany from the south but also because diverted German resouces away from the Russian front.  Five thousand Allied troops lost their lives in this campaign.  Lucky Luciano had his sentence communted by the US courts because of his assistance to General Patton.  Giuliano was assassinated in 1947...maybe ! His death is believed to be staged . He is the subject of books, movies, songs, legends and remains a Sicilian folk hero.

Today, the US has its military bases in Sicily.  Italy dictates what crops are to be grown in Sicily because of EU (German) agreements and the unemployment rate in Sicily is 25%.  Germans summer in Sicily and bathe in beaches not far from the Allied war cemetary.  If you take a plane out of Sicily, announcements are made in Italian and German; not English.  So much for Sicily, USA.

Who ran through the city naked shouting , "Eureka"?

He was a Sicilian of course! This great scientist and mathematician noticed how water displaced  when bathing at the bath house; giving him the answer to a problem he was solving for the King .  So excited about his discovery, he "streaked" through Siracusa shouting "Eureka, Eureka...."

Archimedes (287-212 BC) developed weapon systems that made Syracuse impenetrable, founded the value of pi , invented Archimedes Screw (still used today), Archimedes Principles of buoyancy and displacement, and countless other inventions.  Working on a solution for finding the area in a circle, he established the foundation that would later become calculus. His ideas were adopted by scientist such as DaVince, Galileo, and Newton.

One day, he was interrupted by a Roman soldier in his study.  In an absent minded fashion he berated the soldier.  Not realizing this crazy old man was Archimedes, soldier killed him with his sword.

Read more about Archimedes and his manuscript that sold for $2 million.  Wiki  has excellent summary and references.