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,
Vittoria, Sicily Vittoria, Sicily Vittoria is a town and "comune" in the province of Ragusa, Sicily, southern, Italy. With its 62,748 inhabitants Vittoria is the second most populated municipality of the province of Ragusa after Ragusa. Vittoria is the youngest town in the province and it presents a modern checkerboard structure, with wide and straight streets. The town's womenfolk are known to still do intricate embroideries, first adopted during the period of Arab rule in Sicily. The town was founded on a very fertile valley known as "Boscopiano". On the south of the city there is the "natural reserve of Aleppo's pine"