CARNEVALE, Giuseppe

First edition of this detailed history and topography of Sicily, produced at a time when chorographic descriptions of the island were flourishing. Giuseppe Carnevale (1558-) was a lawyer of Sicilian origin, who worked in Naples. His ‘Historie’ remained one of the key sources for Sicilian history from the C17 to the C19 century. The work begins by contextualising Sicily as an island, with its geographical location, providing the etymology for its name Trinacria, ancient sources on its history (including the Pseudo-Berosus on giants), and observations on Sicilian customs and language (‘an Italian idiom, albeit corrupted, being primarily a barbarian language, later influenced by Greek’). The remainder of Part I discusses Sicilian history, from its more or less legendary origins to the author’s own time, with references to major events including plagues and the Ottoman Turkish excursions into the island and a short summary of their possessions and recent history. Appended to the work are detailed lists of Sicilian rulers, Vicerè from 1516, Archbishops, but most interesting of all is the final demographic summary of Sicily c.1590, with the number of men (234,821) aged 18-50 and under 18 (284,067), and women (452,503), a total of 971,401 inhabitants, owning 17,175 horses, 29,258 cows, and 11,719,450 [?] in estates and goods. Part I focuses on Sicilian topography, with a narrative tour covering cities from Tindari to Messina, interspersed, in typical Renaissance fashion, with ancient or medieval anecdotes, fables, proverbs, and legends inspired by local antiquities. An extremely interesting work, and one of the most respected sources for Sicilian history.