When in Sicily, you’ll see the “Trinacria” everywhere. The three bent legs are attributed to the triangular shape of the island, which in Greek times was called Trinacria. Originally, at the center of the legs was the head of the Gorgon Medusa, a depiction you’ll still find today; however, equally prevalent, and what appears on the official flag of Sicily today, is the head of a woman that is donned with, instead of snakes, stalks of wheat, as a nod to Sicily’s fertile land and its devotion to the goddess of the harvest and of wheat Demeter (Greek) or Ceres (Roman). The peculiar position of the feet, at right angels, could be attributed to the position of the arms in depictions of the ancient Carthaginian goddess Tanit, who was worshiped in Sicily’s western regions in pre-Christian times.
