three valli of Sicily

{{Short description|Sicily}}

File:Historical-map-of-Sicily-bjs-2.jpg

During the Muslim rule on Sicily, the island was divided into three different administrative regions: the Val di Noto in the southeast, the Val Demone in the northeast and the Val di Mazara in the west.{{cite book|author1=Bill Nesto|author2=Frances Di Savino|title=The World of Sicilian Wine|date=9 Feb 2013|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520955073|page=154}} Each zone has a noticeably different agriculture and topography{{cite book|author1=Sarah C. Davis-Secord|title=Sicily and the Medieval Mediterranean: Communication Networks and Inter-regional Exchange|date=2007|isbn=9780549515791|page=42}} and they converged near Enna (Castrogiovanni).

There are many Arab-derived names in the Val di Mazara (and more Christians converted to Islam from this region),{{cite book|author1=Stefan Goodwin|title=Malta, Mediterranean Bridge|date=1 Jan 2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780897898201|page=20|edition=illustrated}} are more mixed in the Vallo di Noto, while Christian (particularly Greek) identities survived strongest in the Vallo di Demone (with the least Arab-derived names),{{cite book|author1=Isaac Taylor|title=Words and Places: Or, Etymological Illustrations of History, Ethnology, and Geography|url=https://archive.org/details/wordsandplaceso04taylgoog|date=1865|publisher=Macmillan|pages=[https://archive.org/details/wordsandplaceso04taylgoog/page/n141 101]–2}} which was the last to fall to the Muslims, where Christian refugees from other parts of Sicily had assembled, and which furthermore remained in contact with Byzantine southern Italy.Metcalfe (2009), pp. 34–36, 40 Even in 21st century Sicily, differences between the east and west of the island are often explained by locals as being due to the Greek and Arab descent of the populations, respectively.{{cite book|author1=Helena Attlee|title=The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and its Citrus Fruit|date=2014|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=9780141967868|quote=Catania is a slower-moving, gentler place than Palermo. Most explain the difference between palermitani and catanesi by saying that people on the west of the island are descended from Arabs and those on the east from the Greeks.}} Later Christian Lombard settlements would split the remaining Muslims of Sicily in half, separating the Val di Mazara and the Val di Noto.{{cite book|author1=Ann Katherine Isaacs|title=Immigration and Emigration in Historical Perspective|date=2007|publisher=Edizioni Plus|isbn=9788884924988|page=71}}

Even after Muslim rule, the three valli system was still continued up until 1818, when Sicily was divided into seven provinces.{{cite book|author1=George Dennis|title=A handbook for travellers in Sicily|url=https://archive.org/details/ahandbookfortra23firgoog|date=1864|publisher=John Murray|page=xiv}} From the 16–17th century, the population of Vallo di Noto expanded the most slowly of the three valli, with Vallo di Mazara growing the fastest.{{cite book|author1=Stephan R. Epstein|title=An Island for Itself: Economic Development and Social Change in Late Medieval Sicily|date=13 Nov 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521525077|page=68|edition=revised}}

The three valli are represented by the three-legged Trinacria symbol, which appears on the flag of Sicily.{{cite book|author1=Dana Facaros|author2=Michael Pauls|title=Sicily|date=2008|publisher=New Holland Publishers|isbn=9781860113970|page=222|edition=illustrated}}