Scicli is a city in the Province of Ragusa in the south east of Sicily, southern Italy. It is 25 kilometres from Ragusa, and 308 kilometres from Palermo. Alongside seven other cities in the Val di Noto, it has been listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

Settlements of the area of Scicli dates back to the Copper and Early Bronze Ages (3rd millennium BC to the 15th century BC).

Scicli was founded by the Sicels (whence probably the name) around 300 BCE. In the Middle Ages, like all of Sicily, Scicli was ruled by the Arabs, under whom it lived a flourishing period as agricultural and trade center, and then, after its conquest by Roger I of Hauteville in 1091, by the Normans. Scicli was one of the garrison which rebelled against the Angevine domination in the Sicilian Vespers (April 5, 1282). Following the various dynasties ruling the Kingdom of Sicily, it was an Aragonese-Spanish possession before being united in the Kingdom of Italy in the mid nineteenth century.

Following a catastrophic earthquake in 1693, much of the town was rebuilt in the Sicilian baroque style, which today gives the town the elegant appearance which draws many tourists to visit the city.

Vinicio Capossela (born 14 December 1965) is an Italian singer-songwriter. His style is strongly influenced by US singer and songwriter Tom Waits (Capossela repeatedly recorded his songs with the help of Waits' guitarist, Marc Ribot), though it also draws from the traditions of Italian folk music (especially those of Irpinia, the part of Campania where his family moved from in the 1950s). Capossela's lyrics are highly original and are often inspired by literary sources such as John Fante, Geoffrey Chaucer, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others.

Capossela was born in Hannover (Germany) from Italian parents, moved very early to Emilia Romagna. He has lived in Milan since 1987.

Francesco (Franco) Battiato (born 23 March 1945 in Riposto) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes. His collaborations from 1994 onward with the nihilistic-cynical philosopher Manlio Sgalambro have added lyrical references to Emil Cioran, Friedrich Nietzsche and other anarchistic thinkers.

Together with Alice, Franco Battiato represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 with the song "I treni di Tozeur".

Franco Battiato was born in 1945 in Riposto (in the former municipality of Jonia, that included also Giarre) in the province of Catania, Sicily.

At the age of 20 he moved to Milan and in 1967 he obtained the first musical contract. His single La Torre was released and Battiato appeared on TV to perform the song. He scored some success with the romantic song È l'amore. After further covers of pop songs, he met the experimental musician Juri Camisasca in 1970 and collaborated with Osage Tribe, an Italian psychedelic-progressive rock band. As a solo artist, he released the science-fiction single La convenzione (The convention), one of the finest Italian progressive rock songs of the 1970s.