This book covers Sicilian history in terms of Sicilians and Sicilian immigrants as well as visitors to the island. It considers the Napoleonic Wars, World War II, immigration, slavery and piracy and epidemics and disasters, religious history as well as regular history.

Maria and Mario got married young after a situation that happened when she was young; she had to sneak to see him, but when she was nineteen and he was twenty-one, they were given a lovely wedding. They loved each other and had three sons and a daughter very close in age. This is the story of their lives as parents. A situation occurred, forcing Maria, Mario, and their young daughter to move to America. Two of her sons were at a university in Sicily. Mario had a very successful business growing grapes and making wines and olive oil. He exported to America and at local markets in Italy. His one son then took over the business and was paid a lot of money. There was great sadness that occurred in the family, apart from joyful times. Life took many twists and turns. I hope you enjoy this fictional novel, A Sicilian Family.

Salvatore is only eight years old when he's sent to the Sicilian sulfur mines to work off his family's debt with the Mafia in 1888. Though the work is brutal, as he grows older, there is one bright spot the beautiful Marianna, who also toils at the Miniera Di Zolfo. When they are teenagers, they fall in love and wed. For a time, they gain respite from the hard work and have two children, Samuel and Benedetto. But after three years, Salvatore must return to the mines; his family never sees him again. Marianna does her best to raise the boys without Salvatore, but a peasant's life in early twentieth-century Sicily is not easy. The Sicilian Experience of Mr. Benny shares the story of the early years of author J. B. Zito's grandfather, Ben. It provides historic insight into the rough existence the peasants faced, the trials with which common citizens dealt, and the desire of many to immigrate to America for a better life. The first of three volumes, The Sicilian Experience of Mr. Benny narrates the story of one family's early history that originated in Sicily, Italy.