In light of the region's distinctive features, and especially its unique geography, one can understand how an Islamic invasion of Sicily could come to pass. For two centuries, from the 9th and the 11th century, the island was ruled by Muslims who had wrested it away from the Byzantine Empire. This long dominion came to an end only with the Norman conquest. The Muslim presence was crucial and left indelible signs. This books describes an overview of these signs, thus following in the wake of the many studies on this topic that have blossomed in recent years, involving historians, archaeologists, antique coin collectors, Hebraists, and Arabists.

Alessandro Vanoli has a research scholarship at the Paleography and Medieval Studies Department of the University of Bologna.