Pre-Doomsday[]
The Region of Sicily was created in 1946 after the Second World War, the first among the other 19 and the first autonomous region. Even its foundation is linked to Cosa Nostra: criminal figures like Calogero Vizzini, Giuseppe Russo and others supported the creation of a Sicilian region as it would give more power to the region itself and take power away from Rome.
In the sixties and seventies, the First Mafia War between various clans of Cosa Nostra and the clans of Palermo took place. In this same period, the Mafia would use their power to influence local politics, making use of procurement to enter the construction sector of the island while also continuing to kill unwanted public figures opposed to their aims like policemen, judges, politicians and clergy. The situation would become even more intense in the early eighties, with the assassination of the incumbent President of the Region of Sicily, Piersanti Mattarella, and the assassination of Carlo Alberto della Chiesa, commander of the Legione Carabinieri Sicilia. Most importantly, it would see the beginning of the Second Mafia War between the Corleonesi and the Palermitani, a war that would continue even after Doomsday.
World War III and its aftermath[]
In September 1983 Italy was hammered with short- and intermediate-range nuclear missiles, due to its role as a major ally of the US and its strategic location. Rome, Naples, Turin, Milan and two dozen other major cities were lost. Any remnant of the national government collapsed quickly, leaving regions and localities scrambling to care for their people. Yet the island of Sicily was left isolated but mostly intact. While major cities and bases on the peninsula were destroyed by high-yield weapons, Sicily saw only two tactical strikes, both warheads of about 50 KT in strength aimed at Naval Air Station Sigonella and Comiso Air Station, both of which were primarily manned by Americans. The blasts created relatively little fallout but did increase the risk of radiation exposure in the cities of Ragusa and Catania, which gradually reduced in size as people left for safer areas.
A minor base at Trapani and the potentially strategic port of Palermo were spared, either because they were to be hit by a later wave that never launched, or because the Soviets imagined that they could occupy the strategic island. As it happened, very little of the naval combat of World War III made it to Sicily; most of the Soviet fleet was stopped further east. A few vessels bound for Soviet fuel stores in Malta came further north and were driven off. A few lifeboats' worth of survivors from the combat also came ashore and were promptly taken into custody. The future regime would cite these minor incidents when it claimed to be the only force able to defend Italy from the communist threat.
Survivors from across the peninsula made their way to Sicily, surpassing the island's ability to provide for them all. Order broke down as the institutions of the Italian state collapsed or were tied down with affairs in the mainland. The regional government was forced to turn to two other groups for support: the clandestine anti-Soviet "Gladio" operatives - and the families of the Sicilian mafia. Both became key to propping up the region in the 80s, and both greatly influenced the future development of the Sicilian state.
Operation Gladio[]
Emblem of the Gladio Organization, with the motto «Silendo libertatem servo (In silence, I protect freedom)»
Operation Gladio was founded in 1956 as a secret network to contain a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. Beginning in the late 60s, Italy was rocked by a series of terrorist attacks known as the Years of Lead, where both leftist and right-wing organizations committed attacks on the public infrastructure and on civilians. The Gladio network shifted during this era, now turning its attention to combating internal leftist activities and supporting far-right terror attacks. It was speculated before 1983 that Gladio was colluding with the Sicilian mafia of Cosa Nostra and of the masonic lodge Propaganda Due (P2) to undermine leftist activities in Sicily and other parts of southern Italy.
With the catastrophic outbreak of war in September 1983, Gladio sprang into action, ready at last to resist the communist invasion. But the armies and navies of the Warsaw Pact never made it to Italian territory. Instead of fighting an invasion, Gladio operatives sought to shore up what was left of the Italian state and - above all - stamp out the threat of communism.
The main body of the organization was activated by the early morning of the 26th of September 1983. Marrargiu, near Alghero in Sardinia, was formally a training center for sappers, but in reality it was the main base of operation for Gladio and the CIA in Italy. Alongside this there were thousands of sleeper agents and Units of Rapid Response around the country. All could make use of the Nasco depots, weapons caches hidden around Italy to equip Gladio for a guerrilla war. They contained guns, both new and WW2 surplus, C4 explosives, short-wave radios, and other military-grade equipment.
Some prominent members of the recently-dissolved P2 survived: Licio Gelli, Flavio Carbone, Silvio Berlusconi, Franco Di Bella, Federico Umberto D'Amato, the director of the SISMI military intelligence agency Nino Lugaresi, the commanding general of the Carabinieri Lorenzo Valditara, the former commander of the Guardia di Finanza Orazio Giannini, and the director of Gladio Paolo Inzerilli, as well as his predecessor Gerardo Serravalle. A few of these, those with high-ranking positions, were contacted by agents of the secret services for transport to safe locations. Others were on their own in shelters and bunkers.
The director of the SISDE civil intelligence agency Emanuele De Francesco was already in Palermo, fighting against Cosa Nostra and working with the city prefect. Other important members of both Gladio and the secret services were also in Sicily, like the general Pietro Musumeci and the regional SISDE director for Sardinia and Sicily Bruno Contrada. In the coming weeks, many Gladio operatives made their way to Sicily. Cosa Nostra and the intelligence services, recently enemies, were now united in their desire to defend the island from communism. Despite the loss of Sigonella, many American troops were present as well. These factions could join together to make the island a fortress against Soviet attacks.
The Mafia and the State[]
The war found Sicily in a turbulent state, in the thick of the Great Mafia War that pitted the leading families against each other and which had already killed numerous judges and public officials. The shock and uncertainty of Doomsday put a pause to these conflicts. As Gladio agents gathered in Sicily, many argued that the mafia could be enlisted to support their mission, namely fortifying the island against any communist infiltration or invasion.
Paolo Inzerilli, the head of Gladio, crossed to Sicily from Sardinia, bringing most of his men with him. Sardinia had been hit by several large warheads and was crumbling. Instead, Sicily was where they would make their stand. The regional government of Sicily, headed by the democristiano President Calogero Lo Giudice, were content to take a background role while the spy chief assumed control of the emergency response. Gladio was a shadowy organization shrouded in evil rumors, but there was no denying that this was exactly the scenario they had been preparing for.
Knowing the connections that Cosa Nostra and the other clans held, on the 20th October Inzerilli convened a summit meeting with the key leaders: Gerlando Alberti, Domenico Rancadore, Rosario Spatola, Gaspare Caruana, Ignazio and Antonino Salvo, Michele Greco and the politicians Calogero Mannino and Vito Ciancimino. Also attending were the military commanders of the armed forces on the island, the commissar of the Police in Sicily, the commander of the Carabinieri and the ranking American military and intelligence officers. Inzerilli extended the following terms: there would be a general amnesty for the Coscas in the Cosa Nostra and other clans willing to help maintain order, suppress subversive elements, and avert famine. Some military officers raised objections, to which Gerlando Alberti replied: “Signori, sè volete farci fuori fatelo pure, ma neanche voi riuscirete a sconfiggere Totò Riina e i Corleonesi dopo, noi stiamo argomentando e parlando con voi come da gentiluomini, Riina vi avrebbe uccisi tutti alla prima obiezione, insieme a noi Palermitani." (Gentlemen, if you want to kill us [for this] then go ahead and do it. But not even you will be able to defeat Totò Riina and the Corleonesi afterward. We are arguing and talking to you like gentlemen, Riina would have killed you all at the first objection, together with us Palermitans).
Thus a new state apparatus emerged, built on an alliance between the crime families, the remnants of the Italian, American and other NATO forces, and the regional government, all under the direction of the gathered men of Gladio. Fascist and other far-right elements were willing to give their support, seeing an opportunity to go after their enemies. As the weeks wore on and combat subsided on land and sea, the regime remained in place and tightened its control. It cracked down on opposition, inevitably characterizing it as pro-Soviet.
Emergence of the hybrid state[]
One final act remained in the Mafia War: with the cooperation of the police and military, the Palermitani family and their allies moved to eliminate the Corleone Clan, and Salvatore Riina along with them, root and stem. Toto Riina had managed to kill most of the old families of Palermo or exile them to the United States or Brazil; now the Palermitani remnants would finally get revenge on the Corleonesi through state-sanctioned actions.
The trap was set for the 2nd of December. Riina was invited to the home of Vito Ciancimino under the pretense of talking about business and the possibility of conducting a coup d’etat against the Sicilian government and eliminating every opponent in the meantime, including both political, military and adversaries of the Corleonesi. Riina was unaware, however, that Vito was working with the government and his whole conversation was recorded on tape. Moments after the meeting concluded, squads of the GiS (Gruppo Intervento Speciale) stormed the villa and arrested Riina on multiple charges, which included the murders of Stefano Bontate, Salvatore Inzerillo, Giuseppe Inzerillo, Emanuele Basile, Giuseppe Russo, Carlo Alberto della Chiesa, Piersanti Mattarella and countless others.
The attacks and seizures showed how closely the mafia and the emergency state were now intertwined in Sicily. The state gladly used its resources to help loyal clans settle their scores, while the mafia itself could now be more united than ever - a "Repubblica delle famiglie" and a willing partner to the state. With Riina now in prison and every property of the Corleonesi now in the hand of their rivals or the state, the priority of the "hybrid state" was now to avoid the spread of destruction rumoured to be happening in other parts of Europe. The syndicates helped to restore order: a new National Guard incorporated and largely replaced the Carabinieri, and it was infused with mafia. In exchange, the families were allowed to turn their previous criminal activities into state-sanctioned private companies, allowing them to take part in public and political life of the new state in an even greater capacity than before.
However, many people remained against working with the Mafia, with some opponents fleeing Sicily in fear of their lives. This included the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Carlo Palermo, policemen Antonino Cassarà, journalist Mauro Rostagno, professor Sergio Mattarella, archbishop of Palermo Salvatore Pappalardo and many others. According to the census between 5,000 and 10,000 refugees left Sicily between 1983 and 1985. They sought refuge in Malta, the Balearics, Corfù and others - with these refugees later becoming the founding fathers of the Society for Italian Reunification or SIR. These departures were more than balanced by the steady stream of survivors from the mainland who were looking for a safe refuge in Sicily.
The wider situation continued to get worse. There was still no contact with any part of the national government. Refugees continued to arrive on the shores of the island from mainland Italy. Sicily had ample weapons and ammunition, but its supply of food was in doubt. Its maintenance of peace, order, and economical stability (relative to the rest of Europe), and martial law, kept the population compliant. At end of 1983, the new Sicily continued to act in the name of the Italian Republic but had effectively replaced it.
In 1984 and 1985, the privations of life in postwar Sicily became more routine. Food was still rationed. More of the people were organized to work in food production. The resources and organization of the mafia were put to use in support of farms: allocating land, producing fertilizer, distributing seeds, manufacturing tools. The crime families in fact helped many in Sicily, both locals and new refugees, escape starvation, and the island survived better than most of its neighbors. These refugees could be settled and put to work on land confiscated from the Corleonesi. Sicily's farmers had help from the burst of wetter weather that allowed for more land to be put under plough - though it also caused numerous destructive floods between 1983 and 1987, especially in the winters. The top priority after food production was the generation of electricity. By 1985, several plants were operating again, but especially in rural areas, many people had to do without power.
The world was burning, but Sicily was never completely isolated. Refugees continued to bring news from the mainland and - beginning in early 1984 -from Libya after the Gaddafi regime violently collapsed. Radio communication remained possible with nearby surviving governments, among them Corsica, Tunisia, the Balearics, Malta, Crete, and Cyrenaica. Travel remained dangerous, and economic realities meant that trade was still nonexistent; but Sicily was establishing new relationships with foreign nations.
In 1985, after two years of no response from any other organ of the national government, Paolo Inzerilli directed the government to stop behaving as though the Italian Republic still existed. Sicily's government, still dominated by men formerly associated with Gladio and P2, now saw itself as the legitimate authority for the whole of the peninsula. It would in the coming years assert more actively and forcefully its right to rule it.
Administrative reforms were gradually changing the way the country operated. Many of them were based in the Piano di rinascita democratica (Plan of Democratic Revival) that had circulated secretly among P2 members until it was exposed in 1981. The plan used the Italian constitution but eliminated certain checks and balances, consolidating more power in the ruling party. Many of these reforms were instituted by fiat by the emergency authorities, but the Regional Assembly resumed a more active role as time went on. The forces that held power in Sicily had deepened their ties with the elected officials and could mostly control the assembly's proceedings. The offices of President, Prime Minister, Supreme Court of the Republic and the magistrature were established, giving the new state better political structure and administration, while at the same separating the three powers from each other.
Sicily held its first postwar elections in 1989. There was no need to rig the results; opposition parties lacked the organizing strength to make any gains. The population voted en masse for the Christian Democratic Union. Only a minor part of the electorate voted for the Communist Party or the restored Movement for the Independence of Sicily. The new President of the Republic was Salvo Lima, a close associate of Cosa Nostra and known as an mediator between them and Giulio Andreotti. He nominated for prime minister Ignazio Salvo, a businessman linked to various clans of Palermo. While the positions of power were occupied by people in cahoots with the Mafia, technocrats and prewar politicians also were well represented in lower posts.
In the same year, Sicily took steps to more fully integrate the Americans and other NATO personnel, both those from the minor base at Trapani and those who had fled from other parts of the Mediterranean. All military personnel, equipment and vehicles would be transferred to the Republic. American citizens would receive Sicilian citizenship. An initial copy of the agreement stated that citizenship would be transferred to the "sons" (rather than the "descendants") of all American personnel, an amusing translation error which would be fixed before the final agreement was signed. But the Americans adopted the term, and American-descended Sicilians still proudly call themselves "the Sons of America". The Trapani base was transformed into a new municipality, which already resembled an American small town. The Republic, when establishing the Regiment of Naval Infantry would further honour the Americans by naming it the “George S. Patton”, in honor of the general that liberated Sicily from the Fascists.
1987-1988: Actions on the mainland[]
The Sicilian Republic still considered itself to be the legitimate successor to the Italian Republic; with time, the regime would more forcefully reject all rival claimants. General Biagio Cacciola, now the Minister of Defence, ordered the preparation of plans to extend a Sicilian troop presence to the mainland.
The south of the peninsula had faced starvation and social collapse far worse than Sicily, but it was still more intact than the north. Nevertheless, it was politically underdeveloped, with no major centers of power that could rival Sicily. Northern Italy, though hit the worst by the bombs, by now contained a number of surviving local authorities that might resist Sicilian control. The south, by contrast, was already coming under the island's informal influence. Officers believed that they could fairly easily bring it under control and could count on a good deal of local support.
In 1987, the government reintroduced military conscription for the men between the ages 18 and 30, shifting people from nonessential sectors of the economy. The conscripts reinforced the veterans, many of whom came from the US and other NATO countries. The enlarged army was training and engaging in exercises by the winter of 1987. The first trans-strait operation began in February-March of 1988. It was Codenamed “30 March" in reference to the actions of Joachim Murat, the Napoleonic-era King of Naples who managed to conquer all of southern and central Italy before being defeated by the Austrians.
Subjugation of the South[]
The operations to control the southern peninsula had good to moderate success. Across the straits of Messina, the Calabrians who had been in contact with the Sicilians submitted to the Palermo government with little resistance. The region of Calabria had been devastated not by nuclear fallout but by the 'Ndrangheta and fighting between clans from 1983 to 1987. Most of the region was controlled by either city councils or by the few 'Ndrangheta that survived the fighting. The interior was a collection of villages or towns governed by its inhabitants, controlled by bandits or simply abandoned because it had been too difficult to live there.
If local authorities were deemed too stubborn or hostile, the militias would be sent in to either arrest or kill them. Reggio Calabria was under the power of Paolo De Stefano, but the city remained in serious crisis as there was not enough food and the clan held very loose control over the city. De Stefano agreed to relinquish control and Reggio was transferred to the civilian authority of Calabria.
In Apulia scouts explored the irradiated remains of the city of Taranto which had once been home to the Italian fleet. The area was immediately declared an exclusion zone restricted to all except authorized personnel. Bari, operating as a quasi-independent city, refused the assimilation into the Sicilian fold. This resistance was met with ruthless retribution. Militiamen, bolstered by more radical members from the annexed regions of Calabria and Basilicata would lay siege to the city, looting, raping, and pillaging until finally the civilian council surrendered control. The council was executed by firing squad, their bodies coldly tossed into the sea. Those who could flee did, the rest came under the thumb of Palermo or died trying to escape it.
The city of Caserta, home to the Reggia di Caserta, had been miraculously spared any looting as it was the residence of Casalesi boss Antonio Bardellino. When a group of soldiers was spotted by the men of the Casalesi, they stopped them and demanded they explain themselves to Bardellino, the self-proclaimed Prince of Caserta. He received the soldiers at his residence, he was surprised to see well dressed, well equipped and well fed soldiers. After the soldiers answered the Prince's questions, Bardellino welcomed the offer to join the Sicilians on the condition that he and his clan would be allowed to rule over their ‘Principality.’ The officers informed him that this was possible and left with the blessing of the prince and a representative from the clan. Unbeknownst to Bardellino, his assassination by sniper fire would come shortly after the assimilation by Sicily. There was no room for princes in the republic.
The militia advanced toward Naples to scout the city and note the damage caused by the bombs; finding the city mostly destroyed with the approximate epicentre of the bomb near the international airport in Naples. As no crater was observed, it was presumed the attack had been an airburst. The entire city seemed abandoned and was thought to be too dangerous to be explored. The rest of the region was brought under Sicilian control fairly easily following the assessment of Naples with a forward base being garrisoned at Salerno.
The ruins of the city of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi in 1988, still a ruin. Having been destroyed by the Irpina earthquake in 1980, it remained abandoned
The region of Molise was spared from the general destruction and lawlessness present in the rest of the south. The militia met with the survivor administration of Molise and explained that they represented the provisional government in Sicily as their regional government survived the collapse of Italy and declared themselves the successor to the republic as a result. The mayor of Campobasso welcomed the soldiers, making it clear they were welcome to stay for as long as they wanted, and following a brief discussion with the rest of the municipal council the city of Campobasso agreed to acknowledge the provisional Sicilian government, bringing the inhabitants of Molise under their protection.
The situation in Abruzzo was found to be somewhat manageable but unlike Molise, problems with banditry were rife along with the presence of a huge influx of refugees from Rome. L’Aquila had come under the authority of the Church. The former vice-Archbishop, Peressin was the one to encounter the soldiers of the provisional government in Sicily. Stating that they were on a mission to liberate Italy from anarchy and unite it once more, the archbishop gave his blessing for the success of this noble cause, accepting L’Aquila would become part of the republic. He warned, however, the city of Pescara was a hub for criminals and bandits and that their leader, an ex-policeman turned criminal was a ruthless and evil man. After scouting parties confirmed the validity of this information, the military launched a full scale assault on Pescara in early March, proceeding to conquer the city within the month and soon executing most of the captured bandits. Their leader, Giacomo Lucchetta, was sent to Campobasso to be judged by a military tribunal and was found guilty of various charges and hanged.
By mid-March all of the south was in the hands of the provisional government. With a grip on southern Italy, General Cacciola chose to evaluate their position, deciding to temporarily hold military operations to consolidate the regions brought under their control and establish order.
Resistance in the Centre[]
The army remained in the south, eliminating bandits and repressing dissenters for several months, though their next objective would soon call them to action. As the march across central Italy to Florence and Bologna got underway, the Sicilians hoped for similar success to their southern campaigns.
The first priority to establish a forward base in the region before the march to Rome. The monastery at Montecassino was decided to be the location of choice. Montecassino would survive and become a significant community in the region, well protected against any dangers and the prize of the Sicilian officer to take. The officers would go on to displace the settlers in the monastery who fled after being terrorised by the militiamen. These displaced settlers would be the first to raise the flag to the Tuscan authorities when they reached the city of Grosseto.
Latina had been the main city in southern Lazio but had now become home to a combination of bandits and neofascists, led by self-proclaimed Duce Stefano Soderini. The military initially would try to talk with Soderini on annexing the town peacefully but after the killing of an envoy and the wounding of another, the order was given to attack and kill everyone who opened fire on the soldiers. The soldiers set fires to buildings indiscriminately, the conflagration spreading and destroying large swathes of the town. In front of the whole town, the captured ruling class would be marched out and made to stand in a row before being shot by a firing squad. Following this, another row would be brought out and forced to stand where the previous dead lay in sight of the horrified crowd gathered to watch the executions. The blessings of the civilians meant little to the officers looking to occupy the region, too few and suffering were the people to warrant much empathy from the Sicilian officers. When news of the capture of Latina reached Sicily, army headquarters responded with commissioning a new medal for the soldiers responsible in capturing the city, with commendations given to the officers and their regiment in carrying out the executions.
The scouts would continue to head north and within a couple of hours began to see the first settlement towns on the outskirts of Rome. The survivors living in the surrounding towns of the former capital informed them that Rome lay mostly abandoned, with only scavengers or those desperate enough going into the city from time to time - but none ever return. They officers were repulsed by the scavengers of Rome, referring them to rats picking the capital's bones clean.
The condition of Rome was communicated to high command, who deemed it necessary to close off the former capital, settlers within the perimeter of the old highway ring were left to suffer in the harsh Roman wastes. A makeshift wall was erected in the interim period which was later replaced with a guarded fence and checkpoints after further altercations with the scavengers.
The first meeting of the northern and southern survivors happened near Lake Bolsena. A group of soldiers on a recon mission found the presence of a small military campsite near the city of Acquapendente. It was clear this was an active campsite, as the fire had been lit just hours ago and a flag had been raised on the pennant of the camp, which they realised was that of Tuscany. The men waited to see who would return to the camp.
After several hours of waiting a group of Tuscan soldiers came back from a patrol near the city of Bolsena, finding the city occupied by an unfamiliar body of troops. The people of Bolsena had long had a relationship with the Tuscans but the new leadership had chased off the patrol with gunshots, a worrying sign for the Tuscans. When the soldiers eventually made their way back to the lake, they found Sicilian soldiers occupying their camp. Presuming the scouts were from the invading party in Bolsena, a tense standoff between the two groups ensued. With both forces training their guns on the opposing party, the Sicilians explained that they were there at the behest of Palermo, the legitimate government for all of Italy. The Tuscans were curt in their reply, dismissing the Sicilians as the great unifiers they were grandstanding as. Instead, they probed the Sicilians about the droves of refugees who had made it to Grossetto, talking of a ruthless force of brutes and aggressors laying waste to towns in Lazio on a quest of subjugation.
The Sicilians countered, explaining that the goal of their operation was to reunite Italy so that it could adequately defend itself against the Soviet Union and its covert operatives, and that they carry out this mission with or without the blessings of Florence. From the encounter though the Sicilians learned more about the state of the former north, now home to a few scattered states beginning to come under the influence of the Alpine Confederation. The Sicilians scoffed at the prospect of the neutral Swiss coming down from their castles in the Alps to mix with the lowly Italians. The standoff ended in stalemate, both parties keeping their guns on target until they were out of eyeline. The Tuscan patrol sent word to Florence of a new threatening force in the central Italian marches, openly hostile to those not under their stewardship. The Palermo government gave little thought to their Florentine counterparts, as like so many other states before them, the assumed they would fold or fall into place.
On August 9th, the second army column left their base in Alba Adriatica and began advancing north to reach the border with Emilia-Romagna. Their reports soon confirmed the regions of Marche and Umbria were much safer than Lazio with some degree of regional power remaining in firm hands, although this did not necessarily mean the advance was without any danger. The rural areas of these regions were marred by rogue troops and bandit groups. The Republic of Ancona, formed from the pre-Doomsday regional government had established control over the majority of the coastal regions of the Marche, though the interior had been lost to brigands in the interim years. The Sicilians had already met with the provincial leaders of the lower provinces of Ascoli Piceno, Fermo and Macerata to little fanfare. When they headed to the capital, the Doge of Ancona Guiso Monina, was cautiously friendly to the Sicilians. Though the leaders were unknown to the Sicilians, the Venetian merchants who traded with Ancona had shared rumours of a massing force on the southern tip of the peninsula causing all kinds of mayhem. The Sicilians made clear their intentions to annex the region despite the protestations of the Doge. Try as he may to resist, the Doge would eventually disappear from public life, being held on house arrest by the Sicilian Guard, the new puppet masters on the Marche.
In the countryside of the Marche relatively fewer bandit camps were found compared to southern Italy. Near the Umbrian border, they spotted a group of soldiers who looked similar to themselves. When contact was made and the soldiers asked who they were, it was found that these were soldiers of the Umbrian Republic. Umbria had been one of the few regions of Italy that managed to retain a government and survive but was now plagued by a refugee crisis due to the massive number of Romans refugees. Soldiers were escorted to Perugia where they found the city in a terrible state. The officers were soon made aware this situation was mirrored in other cities of the region where refugees had overwhelmed the civilians of the towns.
The officers were introduced to the president of the republic, Gen. Domenico Rossi, who was the Podestà of the Republic after the regional council had been disbanded in 1984, followed by Rossi enforcing a quasi-totalitarian rule while trying to deal with the refugee crisis from Rome. Following a chat with the commanding officer of his army Lt. Rolando Moschini, the general decided to join the new republic in exchange for aid for the refugees. The solution to the problem was horrific, refugees in their thousands were forcefully displace by the Umbrian-Sicilian soldiers, many would flee north into Emilia-Romagna, telling their stories to the Alpine Patrols who policed the region, these stories of a mass exodus of refugees would reach Florence, Ravenna, Venice and even the confederate government in Vaduz.
After Palermo was informed of the Umbrian decision, Rossi was offered the chance to either serve within the Sicilian forces as a general or resign his commission and serve as the governor of Umbria with a re-established regional council supported by Sicily. Although Rossi had ruled in a dictatorial manner, his aim had been to help his people. Thus, seeing the opportunity provided, Rossi chose to resign and take charge as governor, with the regional council providing effective support as competent men were chosen to staff the body.
The commanding forces were pleased at their work, now seeing the majority of the peninsula under occupation and Italy on the path to reunification. With the discovery of the strength of Tuscany, the military operations would be halted until further orders. They instead began to clean up Lazio of bandits and lawless areas, to consolidate their gains, establish civil police where they could, among other measure. By the 4th of September, all of Central Italy was under the control of forces loyal to Palermo.
1989: Unexpected War[]
The confident and ambitious commanders wanted to restart the advance north by March 1989 hoping to control all of old Italy by Christmas.
But they were stunned to near death when reaching the city of Bologna, they found that a massive enemy military force had taken positions to counter the Sicilian advance. After a few skirmishes, the Generals realized that in secret the Northern Italian Provinces - led by the Venetians, Tuscans and Genoans - had set up a defense coalition force bolstered by a large contingent of thousands of Alpine Militia willing to stop the "neo-fascist" Sicilian expansion by all means.
After a brief skirmish (named the Bologna Incident) revealing the Alpine superiority based on hundreds of recently acquired NATO-tanks, artillery and rocket launchers, the Sicilian troops retreat to Florence to set up defenses and rethink their strategy.
The unexpected news and shift deeply upset the government in Palermo. Quickly the bulk of the forces are sent to avoid a Alpine-North-Italian counter-offensive.
As this didn't happen within the next weeks, instead the Alpines offered a ceasefire and treaty negotiations, the Sicilians quickly agreed to a de facto demarcation line along Pisa, Florence and Rimini.
Operation Bon[]
The incoming government of Salvo Lima decided to halt major military operations and try a diplomatic approach for absorbing the Tuscany without any bloodshed. Diplomatic talks with the northern half of Tuscany, now based out of Prato, began after January 1989. In March, Sicilian patrols reported the discovery of several dismembered men, accompanied by a sign reading “Fora ‘li Terroni dalla Toscana” ("Get the southerners out of Tuscany"). Outraged by the brutalities, the Sicilian government gave an ultimatum to Florence, with the request of give an official apology and to allow Sicilian troops to cross the border and establish military outposts. Meanwhile, the Sicilian forces were mobilized, and upon the receival of a reply of 'No' from the Tuscan government, the attack commenced on the 10th of March. The confident and ambitious commanders believed that they could roll through Tuscany and control all of old Italy by Christmas. The armies would move south towards Siena and then Tuscany and also from north east, bypassing Emilia-Romagna to encircle Florence. Occupying forces would then stabilize their control by the already proven methods: cracking down on opposition with harsh, public punishments.
The advance in Tuscany was fast and with few casualties. The Tuscans held their ground in Siena, Porto Ercole, Piombino and in the countryside, but the Sicilians nonetheless arrived at the outskirts of Florence by mid-March. They intended to hold until the Sicilian forces in Umbria could join. But before they could advance further, they were again halted by the coalition of Northern Italians and the Alpine Confederation, whose equippment outclassed that of the Sicilians by far. The generals ordered a retreat towards the Marche for the troops in Romagna and sent more men to the frontline at the Arno river. The frontline commanders contacted Palermo for instructions on what to do. Lima, seeing the desperate situation in the north, ordered more men on the frontline, with many conscripts being dragged from their homes by force. Nevertheless, it was not enough to turn the tide. The war ended in a ceasefire negotiated by the Alpine Confederation.
The ceasefire was ratified in the Treaty of Lucca, in which the remnant of the Tuscan Republic (now based out of Prato) and Palermo agreed to put an end to the hostilities and formalize the new border. The treaty also mandated the free movement of goods and people across the border, the free navigation of the Arno, and economic aid to the remaining independent parts of Tuscany. These requests were accepted by the Sicilians, thus southern Tuscany become part of the republic on the 2nd of April, 1989. The Alpine government, however, gave an additional threat. They warned that the Sicilian advance must stop here or face retaliatory attacks. The government in Palermo was happy with the result and the outcome of the war, considering the territory gained in less then a year and with minimal losses. With this victory - Lima, the old guard of Gladio forces, the mafia, and all other "patriots" had come one step closer to their dream of reuniting Italy under their terms. In time, this would be unravelled by the overwhelmingly unhappy local populations, with civil and economic liberties becoming ever more restricted the further north in Sicilian-occupied territory one went.
Map of the Italian Peninsula between 1990 and 2010. The Sicilian republic is in yellow.
An Unexpected Visit[]
In 1991, the radio station on the island of Marettimo caught up a distress signal, coming from far out to sea. The person on the other end spoke in English, and claimed to be from Australia, on a mission to circumnavigate the globe to see what shape it is in. Two corvettes of the Navy intercepted the USS Benjamin Franklin, and the two parties exchanged salutes. With the help of an Italian officer who could speak English, both were able to communicate with each other, and a dialogue began.
The Franklin and its crew were escorted to Palermo to be received by the president and the prime minister. In the port of Palermo there flew American and Australian flags, and the band of the city played both “God Save the Queen” , not knowing that Australia had become a Republic. The crew of the submarines were hosted in the Grand Hotel et des Palmes. Officers from both nations engaged in private conversation with the president, the prime minister and members of Parliament, where they shared what they knew of the wider world. The Palermans gave them all available information about Southern Europe, North Africa and Italy.
The parties would stay in Palermo for a week before returning home, with the reserved Australians noting the peculiarities of the new state, the older among them perceiving the criminal element beneath the surface. For now, the Australians and Sicilians were pleased with the pleasant discovery, but this budding relationship would soon sour with later developments.
New Republic[]
With the end of the war with the Tuscans and the Alpine Confederation, the government in Palermo now made moves to bring order and stability back to the regions of the peninsula under their rule. On the 17th of March 1991, the Parliament resolved to formally annex the rest of Italy and begin to incorporate its population into the republic. This went unrecognized by the remaining "Free North". The Alpine Confederation now began to occupy much of northern Italy. Regions like Emilia-Romagna emerged as Alpine protectorates for fear of meeting the fate of the rest of Italy. While many civilians of the island of Sicily proper were beginning to enjoy a quality of life unmatched since before Doomsday, many of the central cities and towns began to chafe under the island's combination of military rule and institutionalised corruption.
Flag of the Province of Southern Tuscany
Over the course of the 1990s, the Sicilian government implemented reforms of the administrative system for the mainland. The Provinces were declared the first administrative level, with similar powers to their pre-war counterparts; under the provinces were the Municipalities, the second level of administration and centered on major settlements with their surrounding countryside.
In 1992 came the general elections of the reformed republic, the first to include voters in some of the new mainland provinces. These elections were seen as a test by the establishment in Palermo to see if they scored well outside of Sicily. Surprisingly, they did: voters in the new provinces voted largely for the reformed Christian Democratic Union (now firmly under the control of Lima and other criminal politicians) with only a minor part of the population voted parties like the Socialists, the Liberals, or Republicans. Occupied Tuscany was barred from voting for Parliament but was allowed to hold provincial elections with a relatively limited franchise. There, the majority of the population voted for the Libertas Party, representing local autonomy for Tuscany and the interests of the Tuscan people. It would be the main party of the Consiglio Generale of Siena for almost its entire existence and would continue to exist after Tuscany was separated from Sicily.
The CDU was the main party in the Parliament and it would remain so for many years. With most of the peninsula in their hands the government and the cosche, now formally organized into private companies and "interest groups", could use their money and influence to divide and conquer the peninsula's economy. By 2000, most of the cosches held monopolies and duopolies over the gradually rebuilding economy.
Thanks to the reports compiled by Sicilian naval officers during voyages around the Mediterranean, the government confirmed that Sicily was the largest, most economically developed and the most intact of all the European islands; with a population of more than 5 million inhabitants there were growing concerns about a possible overpopulation of the island and the desire to repopulate parts of the mainland with Sicilians and anyone else willing to relocate.
In 1992 President Lima signed the Act of Resettlement of Mainland Italy, a presidential degree with the aim of encouraging settlement of southern and central Italy. This law would be used to encourage and in many times directly order people to resettle parts of Italy to ease overcrowding. Between its enactment in 1992 and suspension in 2004, one million Sicilians left for the mainland. This greatly changed the demographics of the republic but also the cultural landscape of southern Italy.
Due to the near-complete extinction of the Neapolitan culture and the city of Naples itself, Sicilian culture supplanted that of the Neapolitans in this part of Italy, growing in numbers thanks to the resettlement plan, which was less pronounced in other southern and central cultures like Apulian, Calabrian and Tuscanian. Most of the settlers would be sent to either depopulated areas like Campania, Basilicata, Lazio, southern Tuscany for repopulating areas devastated by the war, earthquakes or be abandoned by it’s original population, others would be sent to main cities of the republic like Siena, Bari, Potenza, Reggio Calabria, Salerno, Cagliari, Benevento and Lecce for increasing their population, as it was lower then it was in 1983. According to the census conducted by government officials in 1991, the population of the newly acquired territories amounted to approximately 3 and a half million, a figure similar to the population of central and southern Italy in the 16th century, overall the total population of the Republic in 1991 was 8.5 million, leaving it second in size only to the Alpine Confederation in this part of Europe.
As the aggressive resettlement plans came under way, peninsular Italy become the destination for many thousands of seasonal and migrant workers from northern Italy, France, Spain and Yugoslavia; these workers would not in factories as miners, fishermen, farmworkers, bounty hunters, artisans, mercenaries for traveling merchants and other lines of work. Unfortunately for many of these migrants it would not mean the possibility of a better future in Italy, as many would be lured in the Caporalato system, an illegal form of recruiting and organizing the workforce without any respect for the workers’ rights or the rules of hiring. Caporalato derives from the term of the intermediaries; Caporale.
This picture depict a group of migrants in one of the typical accommodations used by the Caporalato, usually located in abandoned villages or buildings.
The whole organization relied on the practice of the illegal hiring of workers via employment agencies that recruited workers either abroad or as soon as they arrived in southern Italy and Sicily. It was most often led by criminal organizations with the support of the mafia. The worker was essentially sent into a state of near-slavery. Subjected to the Caporali, who dictated where they would work, how much, and what the pay would be, the workers were without any of the rights granted to others. Nevertheless, the system produced economic growth, and many of the workers believed that their lot was better than what faced those outside Sicilian territory.
Cold Peace[]
In the 14 years after the Bologna Incident and war with the the Tuscans and Alpines, Sicily turned its regard towards the areas already under its control. The mafia-state partnership became more entrenched even as the voting franchise was extended to more and more provinces. Vast areas were resettled, industry began to revive, and military production increased, especially the Navy. This stage of cold peace, ignoring all exterior offers of help & assistance, briefly put a lid on still-relevant expansionist ambitions.
21st Century[]
Di Stefano - Dawn of a Dictatorship[]
In 2000 Paolo Di Stefano won the election to the presidency. The results showed a drop in the Christian Democratic consensus in most Sicilian territories outside Sicily itself, along with Apulia and Marche. Immediately, it was clear that this would be the apex of DC-mafia control and that if things continued as they were, future elections would spell the end of the regime. So elements of the Mafia families, aged Gladio operatives, the old guard of the mainland reconquest and Di Stefano himself came together to form a more hardline regime that would take the Mediterranean by storm. The use of state terrorism, torture, assassination, and intimidation of political opponents became common fixtures of southern Italy in the first decade of the 21st century. These tactics served to suppress of personal liberties and erode democratic institutions.
2001-2010 - Libya, Spain, Conflict[]
In 2001, the Sicilian Republic stunned its neighbors and the world by staging an amphibious invasion of Tripolitania, establishing an occupied zone in the war-torn region within 2 weeks. The Sicilian military overwhelmed all major factions Tripolitania and effectively conquered the region by the end of the year. While the army was engaged in the suppression of Libyan resistance for some years more, The Sicilian republic initiated a settlement program to allocate farmland to refugees and squatters across southern Italy. Exploitation of Libyan resources soon followed.
On May 5th, 2004, the Tunis Accord marked the formalization of the Sicily-Tunisia alliance. While Palermo had been courting Tunisia for years, there remained many reservations on both sides regarding how to go about the relationship. By now the colonization of Italian Tripolitania was in full swing, and the accord meant that Tunisia and Sicily would support one another's further expansion in the region. Tunisia lost no time in fully incorporating the Libyan natural gas regions into its own territory.
Italy managed to send around 50,000 settlers in Libya between 2002 and 2009. This provoked immediate problems with the Libyans. Some were evicted from their houses to make space for the settlers. Some Italians moved into abandoned apartment complexes in the cities, but the majority went to the Jabal Nafusah and Jifarah plains to work as farmers. Many of the villages were the same ones that the Fascist regime used in the 1930s for their settlers, they were just repaired and restructured. Others where created from the ground up; like the villages of Speranza and Giolitti. These villages followed the same style as those of the Italian settlements of the early 20th century, but modernized and completed with newer buildings like a small grocery store, a station of the Carabinieri, a clinic and other commodities.
2004 also saw the controversial decision to send Sicilian forces to southeast Spain to aid the Spanish National Republic in conquering the Balearic Islands from its competitor in Western Sahara. This move would have established hegemony over the Strait of Gibraltar for the bloc of Francoists, Sicilians and Tunisians. It caused controversy both abroad and at home, with the fervor of Di Stefano's supporters able to silence thosed opposed to his rule despite their nearly equal numbers.
These achievements would be but a warmup to its offensive campaign in the War of the Alboran Sea - also known as the First Sicily War - in support of Francoist southeastern Spain and against País de Oro. After continuous rebutted attempts to annex the now heavily-depopulated Sardinia peacefully, Sicily would sieze its remaining ports and occupy the interior in the onset of the war. This was sold to the domestic population as a necessity to protect itself from "invading forces", as the Sicilian narrative was that it was acting defensively against hostile "false states". From there, Sicily occupied the island of Ibiza on the Spanish National Republic's behalf between 2004 and 2006. The intervention of forces from the Celtic Alliance, Portugal and Rif forced Sicily to withdraw from the western Mediterranean.
Growing protests over the failure of the war and the embargo imposed by the other Italian states led to widespread arrests and the strengthening of the dictatorship. Di Stefano dissolved the parliament and imposed martial law in the conquered territories. He ordered the formation of a mandatory National Guard to draft all able-bodied young men into. With his control tenuous at this critical juncture, Di Stefano drafted the new National Guard to keep the peace in the restive areas of Tripolitania, Sardinia and Tuscany, as well as keep the core clear from rebellious elements. Finally, to cement his total grip on power, Di Stefano and his cabinet abandoned the Christian Democrats and formed a new party, la Fiamma Sociale d'Azione (Social Flame of Action). Sicily thus abandoned the pretense of parliamentary government and became a pure one-party state.
Though they made strongly worded protests against Sicily's actions, the northern Italian states were neither able nor willing to intervene militarily. So in 2007 the Sicilian authority over both Sardinia and Trioplitania was acknowledged. The international powers were only able to enact a few sanctions which proved almost completely ineffective against Sicily. Those sanctions were lifted in December 2007, though Sicily was largely isolated diplomatically.
On September 26th 2007, several Western countries founded the Atlantic Defense Community as a direct response to Sicily's aggression. But the new alliance did not deter the Palermo government's ambitions. In November 2008 it moved closer to conflict, declaring that it would ban the shipment of arms through the Lampedusa Corridor. Sicilian vessels began to stop and search foreign vessels for contraband that month. This action may have been miscalculated, because it provoked a joint reaction by the ADC and the Alpine Confederation, as well as the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand, which was beginning to take an interest in Mediterranean affairs. Unprepared to face such a coalition, the Sicilians were forced to back down, for now.
Second Sicily War[]
In October of 2010, with word of the Saguenay War ongoing in North America, and the commitment of the ADC to aiding Canadian forces there, the Sicilian government, feeling that it could now defeat the ADC, fired upon Greek merchant vessels which were not yielding to its patrols. The ensuing exchanges of fire would be the first shots in the Second Sicily War, which would last until December of 2010. While initially successful, Sicily suffered losses as the Greek-aligned ADC members arrived in the region and the nation-states in northern Italy banded together and attacked across the land border. By December, Sicilian forces were forced out of Tunisia, Sardinia, Southern Tuscany and nearby areas of the mainland, and parts of Lecce Province in the southeast. While a total defeat for the Di Stefano regime, the loss these regions meant that they would no longer drain Sicilian resources, and the republic's remaining territory was now much more consolidated. The postwar Sicilian Republic was a much more homogenous entity in its loyalties.
Stipulations of the ensuing peace included: Creation of the National Liberation Committee, a provisional form of government for the maintaining of order and guidance after the overthrow of Di Stefano; the signing of the Treaty of Dublin; agreement to the cession of Sardinia, the rest of Tuscany, all lands north of the Tiber and Tripolitania; an agreement to never wage war for any purpose as well as an agreement on the occupation of the Sicilian Republic's ports by the victorious Atlantic Defense Community.
The Dawn of Peace[]
After the war, what had been called informally by various names - Sicily, Italy, the South, the Palermo Government - was organized as the Sicilian Republic. It adopted a constitution, based on that of Italy from 1946, that better defined the powers and roles of Parliament and other organs of the government. One of Parliament's first acts was setting up the Trial of Palermo to judge high ranking figures from Di Stefano's regime. The penal colonies and National Guard were dissolved. So was Di Stefano's party, Fiamma Sociale d'Azione - though the Christian Democrats who had permitted his rise remained a force in national politics.
The mid-2010s marked a new era of political engagement with the rest of the world. Sicily extended full recognition of the independent Italian states as sovereign entities and was finally be admitted to the LoN as a full member. The defeat and loss of overseas possessions caused a serious economic slump just after the war, but in the following years the more open across the Mediterranean meant that the postwar world was a net positive for the Sicilian economy.
It remains to be seen what path Sicily will take in the years to come. With cautious engagement with the other Italian states, the problem of the ever-powerful Sicilian Mafia still eludes Sicily, although the great strides it has made in the years since the war cannot be denied.