† An inexhaustive list of victorious invaders before 1060 would include Sicans, Elymians, Sicels, Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Celts, Cimbri, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Alans, Huns, Lombards, Byzantines, Franks, Magyars, Vikings and Arabs.
‡ The flag of the Italian navy retains the blue ensign of Amalfi quartered with the red ensigns of the three other ‘maritime republics’, Venice, Genoa and Pisa.
†† In Tuscan-Italian ‘The crow had stolen a piece of cheese from a window’ is il corvo aveva rubato da una finestra un pezzo di formaggio, while in carrarese it is ‘i corv i avev robat da ‘na fnè ‘n toc d’formai.
‡‡ The islanders’ propensity to omit important consonants is reflected in the title of Giuseppe Tornatore’s recent film Baarìa, which is how its citizens pronounce the name of their home town Bagheria.
§§ Charles V, the Habsburg emperor, is alleged to have said that he spoke French to men and Italian to women; he also revealed that he conversed with God in Spanish and with his horse in German.