Sicily's strategic position in the centre of the Mediterranean led to settlement or conquest by a succession of different peoples - Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Muslims, Normans, Germans, French, Spanish - each one leaving its traces on Sicilian culture. This book provides a chronological survey, each section opening with a brief historical overview which is followed with an authoritative and engaging account of the development of the period's art and architecture. The leading architects, artists and stylistic currents are all discussed and outstanding individual buildings and works of art are analysed in detail, while archaeology, urban development, patronage and decorative arts are also covered. This is not a story of artistic conquests, but as a successive layering of different cultures: the way each one interacted with its predecessors produced art and architecture quite distinct from anywhere else in Europe.