On my last tour, one of my guests who has 100% Sicilian heritage asked me a question about the mafia. I responded, “I will talk about it – – a lot – – but when we are with the whole group. I’ll tell you some stories.” Discussing organized crime and corruption and how it has played out in Sicily isn’t a simple task. Yet, in its complexity, there is a final summary: After many personal sacrifices (including many lives lost), Sicilians are those who fought “mafia.”
Today, you can travel safely in Sicily and enjoy its beauty, history, culture, cuisine, and peoples because of a grassroots effort by Sicilians that for more than 30 years has transformed this society. I don’t use “the” because mafia isn’t one thing or one organization. Mafia is a desease of corruption, psychotic behavior, and illegal businesses and activity not to be glamorized. The stories of risks, acts of bravery, and forward thinking to fight it are profound and inspirational.
Pictured on a mural in Palermo are the heroic prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. They are rightfully well-known and celebrated for all they did, yet they are not the only ones who lost (or risked losing) their lives for the peace and growth that exists on the streets and in the villages around the island today. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of others who chose to make changes and live as examples of what could be. And now, is.
Come to Sicily, and you will learn their heroic stories – – because superheros do exist! In fact, many of them are Sicilians.
