History of Islam in Southern Italy

The history of Islam in southern Italy begins with the first Muslim settlement in Mazara which was occupied in 827. The subsequent rule of Sicily and Malta started in the 9th century. Islamic rule over Sicily was effective from 902, and the Emirate of Sicily lasted from 965 until 1061. Though Sicily was the primary Muslim stronghold in Italy some temporary footholds, the most substantial of which was the port city of Bari (occupied from 847 until 871), were established on the mainland peninsula, with Muslim raids reaching as far north as Rome and Piedmont. The Muslim raids were not strictly part of a Muslim-versus-Christian campaign, but rather part of a larger struggle for power in Italy and Europe with Byzantine Christian forces competing against Frankish and Norman Christian forces for control. The Muslim Sicilians were in fact sought as allies by the various Christian factions against other factions.

The first permanent Arab settlement on Sicily occurred in 827, but it was not until Taormina fell in 902 that the entire island fell under their sway, though Rometta held out until 965. In that year the Kalbids established the independence of their emirate from the Fatimid caliphate. In 1061 the first Norman conquerors took Messina and by 1071 Palermo and its citadel (1072) were captured. In 1091 Noto fell to the Normans and the conquest was complete. Malta fell later that year, though the Arab administration was kept in place. This marked the final chapter of this period. The conquests of the Normans established Roman Catholicism firmly in the region, where Eastern Christianity had been prominent during the time of Byzantine rule and even under the Muslim overlords. Widespread conversion ensued, which, coupled with the re-latinisation of the inhabitants, led to the disappearance of Islam in Sicily by the 1280s. The Muslim Ottoman Empire later made its own attempts to gain a foothold in Italy with little success. In the late 1240s, the Muslim Sicilians were deported to the settlement of Lucera. In 1300, the settlement was destroyed which brought an end to the medieval Muslim presence in Italy.