The Italian Bronze Age begins around 1500 BC, likely corresponding to the arrival of Indo-European speakers whose descendants would become the Italic peoples of the Iron Age; alongside the early Italic cultures, however, the Etruscan civilization in central Italy, Celts in northern Italy and Greek colonies in the south flourished during 8th to 5th centuries BC.

Among the Italic peoples, the Latins, originally situated in the Latium region, and their Latin language would come to dominate the peninsula with the Roman conquest of Italy in the 3rd century BC. The Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire dominated Italy for many centuries, and furthermore established the culture and civilization of Western Europe in general, including the adoption and subsequent spread of Christianity as state religion at the end of the 4th century.      Read More........

Because of its strategic location, Sicily was invaded over the centuries by many armies, and was once the site of Roman, Greek and Phoenician colonies. For history-buffs and interested tourists, remnants of those cultures remain to this day.

As the Roman Empire fell apart, a Germanic tribe known as the Vandals overpowered Sicily in 440 AD under the ruling of King Geiseric. They were a short lived kingdom, as the Byzantine Empire pushed their way in by the late 400's.

The Byzantine's used Sicily as a base to conquer the rest of Italy, and ultimately the capital of the empire was moved to Syracuse, Sicily in 663.

Defeated by the Arabs in 965, land reforms were initiated, and an increase in productivity on the island encouraged growth. Under the ruling Arabs, native Christians were given freedom of religion, however, they had to pay a tax, and were greatly limited in their occupations, dress and participation in public affairs.      Read More........