Syracuse, Sicily Sicily until it fell to the Aghlabids after another siege on 20/21 May 878. During the two centuries of Muslim rule, the capital of the Emirate of Sicily was moved from Syracuse to Palermo. The Cathedral was converted into a mosque and the quarter on the Ortygia island was gradually rebuilt along Islamic styles. The city, nevertheless, maintained important trade relationships, and housed a relatively flourishing cultural and artistic life: several Arab poets, including Ibn Hamdis, the most important Sicilian Arab poet of the 12th century, flourished in the city. In 1038, the Byzantine general George Maniakes reconquered the city,
Patti, Sicily which the contracted name "Patti" derives. The city was rebuilt by Count Roger, after the Saracens had been driven from Messina (1058). The town was founded by the Norman king Roger II of Sicily in 1094. Patti is also famous for its large sandy beaches. Patti was destroyed by Frederick of Aragon about 1300, on account of its attachment to the House of Anjou; rebuilt in the 16th century, it was later sacked by the Ottoman Turks. Patti, Sicily Patti is a town and "comune" in northeastern Sicily, southern Italy, administratively part of the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the