Sicily

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

Before: documents, housing, school. First week: codice fiscale, SIM, bank account. First month: residence permit if non-EU, residence, SSN registration, then the driving licence within a year. Household goods duty-free for arrivals from outside the EU, car to be re-registered.

Slow railways (Palermo–Catania about three hours, being upgraded), intercity buses often faster, Catania metro and Circumetnea (FCE). Airports of Catania (the busiest), Palermo, Trapani, Comiso, Lampedusa and Pantelleria. Strait ferries, overnight ships to Naples, Civitavecchia, Genoa, Livorno and Salerno; hydrofoils to the minor islands.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

Nine provincial health authorities, three university hospitals (Palermo, Catania, Messina), large hospital trusts (Civico and Villa Sofia-Cervello in Palermo, Cannizzaro and Garibaldi in Catania, Papardo in Messina), ISMETT for transplants. Under a recovery plan since 2007; non-compliant in two areas in the 2023 LEA monitoring. Patient outflow to the North; minor islands rely on the air ambulance.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

Employment rates among the lowest in Italy and high unemployment, with much undeclared and seasonal work. Public administration and the Region are the main employers; tourism, agriculture, retail; microelectronics in Catania, refining in Syracuse and Milazzo. Sicilian Region job centres; graduate emigration; ZES unica.

Three state universities (Palermo, Catania — the island's oldest, 1434 — and Messina) and the non-state Kore University in Enna. Student support is run by four separate ERSU bodies (Palermo, Catania, Messina, Enna), agencies of the Sicilian Region.

Special statute of 1946 with the Sicilian Regional Assembly. Nine provincial territories: metropolitan cities of Palermo, Catania and Messina and six free municipal consortia. Arbëreshë minority (law 482/1999) in Piana degli Albanesi, Santa Cristina Gela and Contessa Entellina; Sicilian and Gallo-Italic protected by regional law. Festivals: Santa Rosalia, Sant'Agata, Opera dei Pupi.

Long, very hot summers with Scirocco winds and Saharan dust, mild winters on the coasts and cold on the Nebrodi and Etna. 2024 water crisis with a national state of emergency and rationing. Etna and Stromboli active (INGV, yellow alert). Seismic zone 1–2 on the east coast (1693, 1908) and in the Belice (1968). Recurrent summer fires.

Seven UNESCO sites: Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, Villa Romana del Casale, Aeolian Islands, late-baroque towns of the Val di Noto, Syracuse and Pantalica, Etna, Arab-Norman Palermo with Cefalù and Monreale. Season from April to October with an August peak; Taormina and the minor islands very expensive in summer. Municipal tourist tax; regulated access on Etna and in some reserves.