Sicily is like the sun: it dazzles but also burns — the island's beauty, intensity, and heat are inseparable from its difficulty, its harshness, and its power to wound. What makes Sicily magnificent also makes it hard to live with.
This proverb is among the most poetic of the Sicilian tradition, born from the specific experience of living on an island of extreme light. The Sicilian sun is not the gentle sun of northern imagination — it is a physical force, the same light that turns the sea to blinding silver and the volcanic rock to furnace heat, the same light that makes the almond blossom in February and kills the wheat in July if the sirocco comes. Visitors throughout history — from the Arab geographer al-Idrisi to Goethe to D.H. Lawrence — have written of Sicily's dazzling, overwhelming beauty. But the Sicilians themselves knew that the same intensity that made their island sublime also made it difficult: the droughts, the volcanic eruptions, the political passions, the pride that could turn to vendetta, the love that could turn to obsession. The proverb is also used about Sicilian people themselves: passionate, generous, beautiful — and potentially overwhelming.
A self-reflective Sicilian proverb about the island's own character, combining the celebrated beauty of the landscape with the intensity of its climate, history, and people. The specific pairing of abbagghia (dazzles) and scarda (burns/scorches) is characteristic of Sicilian poetic expression.
A Sicilian emigrant explaining to a foreigner why they miss and also fled the island
— Come fai a stare lontano da un posto così bello? — A Sicilia è comu lu suli: abbagghia ma scarda. Bella sì, ma ti consuma.
— How can you stay away from such a beautiful place? — Sicily is like the sun: it dazzles but also burns. Beautiful yes, but it consumes you.
Describing an intense but exhausting relationship
Stare con lui è meraviglioso e devastante allo stesso tempo. È comu lu suli: abbagghia ma scarda.
Being with him is wonderful and devastating at the same time. He is like the sun: he dazzles but also burns.
A writer talking about the experience of living in Sicily
Ho capito perché tanti artisti vengono qui e poi scappano. A Sicilia è comu lu suli: abbagghia ma scarda — troppa bellezza fa male.
I understood why so many artists come here and then flee. Sicily is like the sun: it dazzles but also burns — too much beauty hurts.
A Sicilian person reflecting on their own character
Siamo fatti così noi siciliani. A Sicilia è comu lu suli: abbagghia ma scarda — ama con tutto, si arrabbia con tutto.
This is how we Sicilians are made. Sicily is like the sun: it dazzles but also burns — it loves with everything, it gets angry with everything.