Sicily gave me everything and I gave it everything — the complete statement of reciprocal relationship with the island. The Sicilian who speaks this line claims to have received everything from their birthplace and to have given everything in return: work, loyalty, creativity, love, and ultimately their life.
This proverb-declaration was most powerfully heard from the great Sicilian artists, writers, and farmers who had lived their entire lives in or for the island. Giovanni Verga gave his literary life to depicting the Sicilian poor with the revolutionary truth of verismo. Luigi Pirandello received the Nobel Prize but always returned to his Agrigento. Leonardo Sciascia never left Racalmuto, the small town that gave him the lens through which he saw all of Sicily and, through Sicily, all of human power and corruption. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa used a single great novel to capture the island's impossible beauty and impossible sadness. Each of these, in their way, could say this line: Sicily gave everything — the material, the stories, the characters, the light, the suffering, the contradictions — and they gave everything back — their talent, their work, their lives.
A declaration of complete reciprocity between a person and their homeland, expressed as the ultimate Sicilian identity statement. 'Mi ha datu tuttu' = mi ha dato tutto (gave me everything), 'ci ho datu tuttu' = le ho dato tutto (I gave it everything). The mutual gift of self and place that defines the deepest Sicilian belonging.
A Sicilian farmer at the end of his working life
Cinquant'anni su questa terra. La Sicilia mi ha datu tuttu e io ci ho datu tuttu — non me ne pento di niente.
Fifty years on this land. Sicily gave me everything and I gave it everything — I regret nothing.
A writer explaining their relationship with their homeland
Tutti i miei libri vengono da qui. La Sicilia mi ha datu tuttu e io ci ho datu tuttu — è uno scambio onesto.
All my books come from here. Sicily gave me everything and I gave it everything — it is an honest exchange.
An emigrant at the end of life deciding to be buried in Sicily
Ho vissuto a Toronto cinquant'anni. Ma voglio finire là. La Sicilia mi ha datu tuttu e io ci ho datu tuttu — la mia ultima cosa è tornare.
I have lived in Toronto for fifty years. But I want to finish there. Sicily gave me everything and I gave it everything — my last thing is to return.
At a ceremony honouring Sicilian cultural heritage
La Sicilia mi ha datu tuttu e io ci ho datu tuttu — questo è il patto di ogni siciliano con la propria terra.
Sicily gave me everything and I gave it everything — this is the pact of every Sicilian with their land.