Sicily (Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia, [siˈtʃiːlja]; [sɪˈɕilja]) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea; along with surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana (Sicilian Autonomous Region).
Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean. It extends from the tip of the Apennine peninsula from which it is separated only by the narrow Strait of Messina, towards the North African coast. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, which is at 3,320 m (10,890 ft) the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate.
The earliest archeological evidence of human dwelling on the island dates from 8000 BC. At around 750 BC, Sicily became a Greek colony and for the next 600 years it was the site of the Greek-Punic and Roman-Punic wars, which ended with the Roman destruction of Carthage. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Sicily often changed hands, and during the early Middle Ages it was ruled in turn by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans. Later on, the Kingdom of Sicily lasted between 1130 and 1816, subordinated to the crowns of Aragon, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and finally the Bourbons, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It was united with the rest of Italy in 1860, but a subsequent economic collapse led to a wave of emigration, separatism, and the emergence of the Mafia, whose criminal activities pose problems to this day. After the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region.
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain (born June 25, 1956) is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and The Layover.
A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of numerous professional kitchens, Bourdain is currently a chef-at-large, whose home base is Brasserie Les Halles, New York where he was executive chef for many years.
Anthony Bourdain was born in New York City to Pierre (d.1987) and Gladys Bourdain, and grew up in Leonia, New Jersey. Bourdain has French ancestry on his father's side; his paternal grandfather emigrated from France to New York following World War I. Bourdain's mother worked for the New York Times as a staff editor. Bourdain was a student at Englewood School for Boys, graduating in 1973. He attended Vassar College before dropping out after two years, and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978.
Andrew Zimmern (born July 4, 1961 in New York City) is a television personality, chef, food writer, and teacher. He is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Channel series Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World. For his work on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern he was presented the James Beard Foundation Award in 2010. He also hosts the show Dining with Death which explains some of the foods that could cause death.
Zimmern was born and raised in New York City to a Jewish family. He began his formal culinary training at the age of 14. He attended the Dalton School and graduated from Vassar College. Contributing to many of New York’s finest restaurants as either executive chef or general manager, he has also lectured on restaurant management and design at The New School for Social Research.
Due to severe drug and alcohol addiction, Zimmern was homeless for about one year. During this period, he survived by stealing purses from cafes and selling the contents. In 1992, Zimmern moved to Minnesota, where he checked into the Hazelden Treatment Center for drug and alcohol addiction treatment, where he now volunteers. He later gained wide acclaim during his four and a half year tenure as executive chef of Cafe Un Deux Trois in Minneapolis's Foshay Tower. His menus received the highest ratings from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, as well as national publications.[citation needed] Zimmern left the daily restaurant operations in 1997.
Pino Daniele (born 19 March 1955) is an Italian vocalist, composer, and musician, whose influences cover a wide number of genres, fusing pop, blues, jazz, Italian and Middle eastern music into his own unique brand of world music.
Graduating in accounting, Pino began his musical career in the band "Batracomiomachia", then in 1976 he became the bass player with the Napoli Centrale, where he met James Senese. Later in 1976 Claudio Poggi, producer of EMI Italian, listened to a demo tape containing various original tracks by the then young Daniele, deciding to offer a deal with the label. Already mid-year, he recorded a 45-rpm vinyl containing the tracks "Che calore" (originally titled "Ca Calore", being his trademark Neapolitan dialect) and "Fortunato".
"Terra mia", his debut album of 1977 containing tracks from the previous single, demonstrates the singer's deep connection with the Neapolitan and Mediterranean traditions, both in the music and in the lyrics, which sometimes cover songs and popular customs typically Neapolitan. Among the most successful tracks of the album are without doubt "Terra mia", but particularly "Na tazzullella 'e cafè" (A small cup of coffee), highly played by Renzo Arbore on his show "Alto gradimento" (High satisfaction) and "Napule è" (Naples is…), which in time would become a true manifesto for the author (who wrote it at just 18 years of age) and for the entire city of Naples.
Sat in peaceful scenery
The city lights shine bright around me
The smell of last night's dinner is still breezing through the air
Dozing in tranquility
The morning sun hangs high above me
Clicking camera shutters catch bewildered foreign stares
And I must be away from my home
But it feels so close to me
And I must be away from my home
But it feels so close to me
Clifftop is our tapestry
The sunlit sky does well to cool me
Drifting past the villas in a coach without a care
Blackjack in serenity
Fellow makers ride beside me
Walking through an archway and admiring what lies there
And I must be away from my home
But it feels so close to me
And I must be away from my home
But it feels so close to me
Sat in peaceful scenery
The city lights shine bright around me
Smell of last night's dinner is still breezing through the air
I was in Sicily reading Henry Miller
You were in New York City you were getting thinner
I was in discos I was listening to Madonna
You were in sweat clothes looking like Jane Fonda
One day I called you because I couldn't resist
It cost me eighty bucks I don't think it was worth it
This is the last thing I expected to be
A broken hearted troubadour in sunny Sicily
The night was raining and my window was stuck
My driver took the shore roads to avoid the heavy trucks
While he was telling me about the Mafia
I was thinking 'bout our wedding what the marriage done to you
Feeling so lonely my esteem so low
Find myself in Italy I'm singing in a disco
This is the last thing I wanted to be
A broken hearted troubadour in sunny Sicily
Looking out my window I see the stars above
I'm closer to Tunisia than to anyone I love
I've seen the ruins of the Romans and the Greeks
Compared to my own empire they really look so neat
Some say my songs are long and over complicated
But they're very personal I say they're underrated
This is the last thing I expected to be