Many famous and celebrated people have Sicilian roots.
Do you? How do you connect?
Sicily is the largest region in Italy in terms of land area and with a population of over 5 million it is also the largest and most populated island in the Mediterranean Sea.
No wonder Sicily has contributed so many famous people from all walks of life.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta usually known as 'Lady Gaga' has Sicilian roots thanks to her father, Joseph Germanotta. Gaga's paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Naso, Italy to New York, United States in 1904. Gaga has enjoyed global success in the entertainment industry as a singer, songwriter and actress, and is one of the biggest selling recording artists of all time. She is the first woman to win an Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Grammy Award in one year (2018).
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. He's the only child of a Sicilian fireman father, Anthony Martin Sinatra (1894–1969). Anthony emigrated to the United States in 1903. As both an actor and singer, Sinatra is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century, having sold over 150 million records and starred in countless films, earning him an Academy Award, four Golden Globes to add to his eleven Grammy awards for music. Sinatra has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one each for television, music recording and motion pictures.
American film star Sylvester Stallone's paternal ancestry is Sicilian, with his father, Frank Stallone Sr., being a 1930's immigrant from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. His grandparents, Silvestro and Pulcheria Stallone, were also from Gioia del Colle, a town near Castellammare, and emigrated to the U.S. together in 1923.
Martin Scorsese. Oscar-winning film director, born in 1942, New York, all four of Scorsese's grandparents were immigrants from Sicily, hailing from Polizzi Generosa on his father's side and Ciminna on his mother's side. Their original surname was Scozzese, meaning "Scot" or "Scottish" in Italian, and was accidentally changed to Scorsese because of a transcription error. You can find his ancestor's graves in Polizzi Generosa cemetery.
Giuseppe 'Joe' DiMaggio was born in 1914, in Martinez, California, the eighth of nine children born to Sicilian immigrants Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio, from Isola delle Femmine near Palermo. Before becoming a legendary Baseball player in the USA, Giuseppe was a fisherman, as were generations of DiMaggios before him. Married film star Marilyn Monroe in 1954.
John Travolta - Film Actor. His father was a second-generation Italian American with roots in Godrano, Sicily, and his mother was Irish American. Triple Academy-award nominated Travolta has starred in many unforgettable films including 'Grease', 'Saturday Night Fever', 'Pulp Fiction', 'Get Shorty' and 'Hairspray' showing great diversity and box-office power.
Tina Arena - Australian Arena was born in the Melbourne suburb of Keilor East, to Giuseppe "Joe" Arena and Francesca "Franca" Catalfamo - both from Valguarnera, Sicily. She is one of Australia's highest selling musical artists singing in English, Italian, French and Spanish. Arena is also an accomplished musical theatre actress and has starred in 'Notre Dame De Paris' and 'Chicago' in London's West End as well as many Australian productions including 'Evita'.
Pope Leo XIV. His paternal grandfather's family name was Riggitano, and later changed to Prevost, when he was settled in the United States. Leo XIV's paternal grandparents were John Riggitano Prevost (born Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano, a Sicilian immigrant from Milazzo near Messina, Sicily)
American actor Al Pacino has strong Sicilian ancestry - his parents were both of Sicilian descent, and his maternal grandparents emigrated from Corleone, Sicily. His paternal grandfather, Salvatore, came from San Fratello, Sicily, while his mother's parents, James and Kate Gerardi, came from Corleone. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time.
American Actor Guy Williams (born Armando Joseph Catalano) had Sicilian ancestry, with both of his parents immigrating to New York from Sicily. His father, Attilio Catalano, was from Lercara Friddi in the province of Palermo, while his mother, Clara Arcara, was from Messina. Best known for his role as masked horseman ZORRO
Film director Frank Capra is a native of Bisacquino, Sicily. He was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind several major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s.
Natalie Imbruglia has Sicilian ancestry through her father, Elliot, who was a Sicilian immigrant from the Aeolian island of Lipari. Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s acting in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. She moved to the UK to begin a recording career. Her 1997 debut single, "Torn", became a worldwide hit, topped the US Billboard Radio Songs Chart for 11 weeks in 1998, and was listed on the 50 Best Songs of the 1990s by Rolling Stone.
Lara Cardella, a best-selling writer, was born in 1969 in Licata, Sicily. She is best known for her novel Good Girls Don't Wear Trousers.
Antonello da Messina, a painter from Messina, was active during the Italian Renaissance. Giorgio Vasari credited him with the introduction of oil painting into Italy.
Archimedes, from Syracuse, Sicily, was a mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor. He is considered one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity.
Luigi Pirandello, dramatist, novelist and poet; he was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature. Pirandello was born into an upper-class family in Agrigento, Sicily. His family's surname had originally been the Greek "Pirangelos"
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, known as "Premier of Victory" was the 23rd Prime Minister of Italy who led the country to victory during World War I and whose political leadership and military reforms and appointments enabled Italy to defeat Austria-Hungary.
Vincenzo Bellini, an opera composer from Catania, Sicily, was known for his long-flowing melodic lines. Some of his works such as La sonnambula, made him one of the most famous composers of his time in Italy and Europe.
Maria Grazia Cucinotta, an actress who has featured in many films and television series since 1990, and internationally known for her role in the Italian film 'Il Postino' is from Messina in Sicily.
Marco Cechhinato is a professional tennis player from Palermo, Sicily. He has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 16 and became the first Sicilian to win an ATP title in 2018 at the Hungarian Open.
Aura Eternal Visage, is the stage name of Alan Yuri Geraci, an Italian drag performer who has competed on the second season of Drag Race Italia as well as the second season of Queen of the Universe. She was born in Mondello, Palermo in Sicily
Dominic James "Nick" La Rocca 1889–1961, was an American early jazz cornet and trumpet player and the leader of the Original Dixieland Jass Band, who is credited by some as being "the father of modern jazz". He composed one of the most recorded jazz classics, "Tiger Rag" and was part of what is generally regarded as the first recorded jazz band in 1917. His Sicilian ancestry is from Salaparuta, the birthplace of his father, Girolamo, whilst his mother, Vita De Nina, was from from Poggioreale. Both parents immigrated to New Orleans before Nick was born.
Marcello Luigi Fiasconaro (born 19 July 1949) is an athlete, who set a world record for the 800m in 1973. His father, Gregorio, was born in Castelbuono, Sicily. A pilot for Italy during World War II, he was shot down over East Africa and taken to South Africa as a prisoner of war where he married. Marcello was a gifted all-round sportsman and his national record for the 800m is possibly the longest-lived Italian athletics record in any discipline.
Frank Vincent Zappa, 1940–1993) was an American composer, songwriter, electric guitarist, conductor, actor, satirist, filmmaker and activist. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. Zappa had Sicilian ancestry through his father, who was an immigrant from Partinico. Zappa's mother had Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian), as well as French ancestry.
