Sicily Guide

Sicily’s ancient peoples - the Sicanians, Sicels, Elymians - - are lost to antiquity, but her ancient wine culture thrives, connecting Sicily’s past and present to the future. Beginning about 800 B.C., Sicily’s central location in the Mediterranean Sea landed her in the international mainstream.
Dionysus, God of Wine, shepherded the grape from Greece to Sicily - it is said - conveniently just ahead of Greek settlement of the island, circa 500 B.C. In 300 B.C., Roman historian Varrone documented 50 varieties of grapes planted throughout the island. Arabs arrived in the 800s A.D. and founded the city of Mars el’Allah, (literally "Port of Allah"), modern-day Marsala, made world-famous in the 1700s for its sweet fortified wine and countless chicken recipes.

A pioneer of another sort discovered Sicily during the modern world’s wine boom. In 1972, Anthony J. Terlato, scion of Lake Bluff-based Terlato Wines International was intrigued by a bottle of the Sicilian brand Corvo, he ordered in a Rome ristorante. More >>