Two titles, two opposite Sicilies, in the space of a few days. The same newspaper that had reported the wedding of Dua Lipa and Callum Turner as “the wedding of the year in the former hideout of the Sicilian mafia” now crowns the island as the most beautiful in the Mediterranean. The Telegraph comes to us with a study that compared 50 Mediterranean islands, evaluated on over thirty different parameters, and places Sicily at the top of the ranking with a formula that shifts the center of gravity from the panorama to those who live there: the most beautiful, according to those who live there.
The study and the formula of “according to those who live there”
In the piece, the British newspaper constructs a sort of declaration of love for the island, defined as a crossroads of gastronomy, architecture and culture, shaped by a lifestyle that continues to follow a slow and authentic pace. The slow living that tourist markets today pursue as a discovery, the Telegraph suggests, has never had to be imported into Sicily: it has always been part of the island’s identity. The rest are taken care of by the elements that no ranking can ignore – the beaches, the volcanoes, the UNESCO sites, the cuisine, the hospitality. It is not surprising, then, that Sicily itself was the setting for the wedding of Dua Lipa and Callum Turner, celebrated between Palermo and Bagheria.
The voices of those who have returned
The structure of the article rests largely on the testimonies of those who, after living abroad, chose to return. From their stories emerges the image of a territory that holds together its own history and identity without completely turning them into a museum, even though there are those who describe the island as an open-air museum. There are those who swear that the light, the sea and certain landscapes make any comparison with other corners of the world impossible. Words that the president of the Sicilian Region welcomed with evident relief.
Schifani and the “reparative” service
Because the context here matters more than the study. The praise comes a few days after the protests raised by the previous Telegraph article on Dua Lipa’s marriage, where references to the mafia had caused the Region and Renato Schifani himself to rise up. The governor, who after that publication had asked for clarification and an apology from the newspaper, read the new piece as a step backwards: “I have read the report and I consider it reparative”, saying he was satisfied with a recognition that enhances not only the landscape and monumental heritage of the island, but above all the authenticity, hospitality and sense of community of the Sicilians. It is difficult to say whether that second article was a sincere repentance or an editorial calculation, given the haste with which he followed the first. The governor chose the most generous reading, defining it as remedial and taking the lead without asking for help. But a ranking, however authoritative, works on thirty measurable parameters, while a title that associates an island with the mafia works on a completely different level. And that damage, as Schifani had made clear from the first correction, had already been done.
