Siciliana

A Novel

By: Carlo Treviso

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo

A family torn apart by conflict.

An uprising of deadly magnitude.

A nation altered forever.

Inspired by actual events, Siciliana is the harrowing tale of a young woman’s courage in the face of unthinkable turmoil.

In 1282 AD, the Kingdom of Sicily is under the rule of a tyrannical French king and subject to his brutal Angevin army. Daily acts of violence and persecution are commonplace in a once-prosperous realm.

For twenty-year-old Aetna Vespiri, daughter of a revered Sicilian knight, survival has become second nature. As a child, she witnessed the destruction of her family’s vineyard by Angevin soldiers and spent the next decade learning the tenets of stiletto-blade combat.

Years later in Palermo, as the evening bells toll for Vespers, Aetna fends off a nefarious sergeant and sparks an uprising against the Angevin occupation. Now, standing at the forefront of an accelerating people’s rebellion, Aetna finds herself fighting not only for a nation she believes in but also for the meaning of family. In her darkest hour, this dauntless Sicilian woman steps out of obscurity and into the pages of history.

The legend of Siciliana is born.

Set amid bustling Arab markets and brooding Norman fortresses, Siciliana will envelop listeners in the sights, sounds, and dangers lurking around every corner of medieval Sicily.

©2022 Carlo Treviso (P)2022 Carlo Treviso

Just wow!!

Amazing to read about the Vespiri siciliani and to read old Sicilian words and sayings. This book definitely hit home.

Medusa Lives Forever

Sicily comes to life in this story. It’s so satisfying; so full of passion and love for the land and it’s people. Sicily is the land of heroes and anti-heroes. A worthy read! A lesson in grit.

Guerra

History abounds with stories of a people pushed to the brink, finally saying "No more!" to their oppressors and discovering a cohesion and national identity amid the bloodshed of rebellion. Through it's long, bloody, and fascinating history, Sicily has had many such oppressors. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs had all staked their claim to the small Mediterranean island and oppressed its people. It is during the occupation by Angevin empire of the French however, that our story is set. In the years leading up to the rebellion history remembers as the "Sicilian Vespers", discontentment had slowly been simmering among the islands inhabitants. Sicily had been brutally subjugated from top to bottom and held a subordinate role in the French empire. Rebellion seemed almost inevitable given the fact that Sicily's nobles had no share in the government of their own island, King Charles spent the heavy taxes he imposed on wars outside Sicily, and as a result, as one historian writes: "[The Sicilians] saw themselves now being ruled to enable an alien tyrant make conquests from which they would have no benefit". It is amidst this turmoil that our story is set.
"Siciliana" by Carlo Treviso is set in a world of simmering conflict and burgeoning national identity, a world of austere fortresses and bustling markets. It is also a world where inhabitants endure casual cruelty, constant oppression, and utter hopelessness ( "Simmo Surfaru"). Sicily in 1282 was a powderkeg waiting for a single spark to ignite it. Our main character, Aetna Vespiri, IS the spark that will go on to engulf the whole island. After surviving the brutal destruction of her family by Angevin soldiers, Aetna finds herself inspiring and leading an island wide rebellion against one of the great empires of her day. The "Sicilian Vespers" provides a fascinating stage for a story like this and the author doesn’t squander its potential for one moment. And while it's a little more formulaic, bombastic, and cinematically written than you'd expect from a story like this, it is no less immersive, compelling, and entertaining. Despite it's rather "paint by numbers" character motivations, the author does a laudable job establishing the context of the rebellion itself and manages to stay (relatively) close to the established facts while also keeping you invested in those characters and using them to tell an entertaining and enthralling story. Readers should probably prepare for more of a pulp-adventure (think "Sicilian Zorro"), than historic epic however. Yet, despite its flaws, Treviso articulates the beauty of Sicily and the determination of its inhabitants as they collectively take their island back as a single, unified people spectacularly and will have readers immersed from word one.

If you enjoyed "Siciliana" by Carlo Treviso and are looking for similar titles then definitely check out "The Sicilian" or "The Family" by Mario Puzo. You might also enjoy "The Godmother" by Leigh Esposito, "The Shape of Water" by Andrea Camilleri, or "The Leopard" by Giuseppe di Lampedusa.

A Great Story about Sicilian Identity

It was a very good audiobook. The story was epic and unique because it one of the few depictions of Sicilian culture or people that didn’t involve the mafia or Cosa Nostra, which is so very much welcomed and refreshing to me, born of Sicilian parents. I have been to Sicily during summer vacations as a child visiting family and I can say this is probably the most accurate description of people and cultures-because Sicily is a fusion of so many empires. The story is fast paced and the narrator was very lyrical and poetic in her cadence, which almost felt like listening to a play in iambic pentameter. The accents were accurate, my only issue is some of the pronunciation of the Sicilian words (the c in Siciliana/Sicilia is supposed to be pronounce liked the Italian ch- I felt a little disappointed by that one, because other words with similar c were pronounce correctly, so I am unsure why that choice in pronunciation was made)but it is mostly an issue of where the accent is placed in some of the words. I understand it’s somewhat of a lost language(but fortunately, there is a revival movement gaining traction) and maybe for people who are not familiar with the Sicilian dialects it’s not a big deal but for people like me at times it was a little jarring to my ears or it took me a few moments to realize what she was supposed to be saying. But overall I applaud the effort (especially when she had to switch to a French accent in addition to everything else- “ ciciri” in a french accent was an excellent depiction:))Sicilian is not an easy language to learn even for me and I grew up with it. Also to narrate for over 100 chapters…Brava! Very pleased with this audio book.

a beautiful tale of rising up against the oppressors

well woven plots of following many characters
kept me waiting to see what happens next