A century of Sicily on the prestigious Time: the island's genius on the covers of the American magazine

The presence of Sicilians in "Time", the prestigious American news magazine founded in 1923, tells a story of talent that crosses oceans and generations. One of the first times Sicily unexpectedly entered the heart of the global imagination was in 1927 thanks to the silent genius of a man who had learned to look at the sky long before the world noticed him. That year, "Time", the magazine that more than any other chronicled the twentieth century, decided to feature an engineer born in Sciacca: Giuseppe Mario Bellanca. He was the first Sicilian and the tenth Italian to appear on the cover of "Time". Not a head of state, not a well-established artist, but an aircraft designer who was revolutionizing the very idea of flight. Before him, the Italians who had graced the magazine's front page included Eleonora Duse, Giulio Gatti Scasazza, and Benito Mussolini (1923), Gelasio Caetani and Pope Pius XII (1924), Vittorio Emanuele III (1925), Arturo Toscanini, Pietro Mascagni, and Guglielmo Marconi (1926).

Bellanca, born in Sciacca in 1886 and graduated in mathematics and engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, emigrated to the United States in 1911. He had the determination typical of those who leave Sicily in search of a different future. From the very beginning, he became passionate about designing machines capable of crossing distances that just a few years earlier seemed impossible. While the world celebrated Lindbergh, who was dedicated a cover as man of the year in 1932, "Time" chose to tell the story of the person who had conceived, designed, and perfected those airplanes. The cover of 1927 was not only a tribute to his talent but an implicit recognition of the ability of Sicilians to imagine what does not yet exist. It was in 1927 that Bellanca designed the Wright-Bellanca WB-2, named Miss Columbia, for the Wright Aeronautical Co. Charles Augustus Lindbergh contacted the company to purchase the aircraft, but due to misunderstandings with Bellanca's partner, Charles A. Levine, the important agreement fell through.

The deal, which involved selling the aircraft for the sum of $15,000, was not completed due to Levine's demand, deemed absurd, to choose the crew members who were to accompany Lindbergh.

Thanks to Giuseppe Bellanca, Sicily would no longer be just a geographical location: it became a laboratory of ideas that could change the world. He is the only Sicilian born in Sicily to appear on the cover of the first American news magazine. All others have Sicilian origins but were not born on the island.

Almost a century later, another Sicilian would bring his land back to the pages of the same magazine, this time with the power of cinema. Martin Scorsese, son of a family originally from Polizzi Generosa, was celebrated by Time in 2023 as one of the greatest living storytellers. His presence is not just an artistic recognition: it is confirmation that the Sicilian legacy, made of memory, inner conflicts, and a sense of destiny, continues to live on in the stories that conquer Hollywood. Scorsese has never forgotten his roots, and in every film, there is an echo of that Sicily that has never stopped telling the world through its children.

But the presence of Sicilians, or those with Sicilian origins, in Time does not end with the great names of cinema or engineering. The magazine has often told the stories of figures who, while not making the cover, have left a deep mark on American culture. Frank Sinatra, with his roots in Lercara Friddi, has been the subject of articles that explored his artistic and human complexity. Joe DiMaggio, son of parents from Isola delle Femmine, has been frequently cited as a symbol of American sports history, with that Mediterranean melancholy that never left him. Anthony Fauci, during the pandemic, became one of the most analyzed figures by Time, with his roots in Sciacca also remembered as part of his family history. Even Nancy Pelosi, despite having broader origins in Southern Italy, has often been associated with the culture of the Sicilian diaspora that has shaped an important part of American leadership.

And then there is Sicily itself, portrayed not only through people but also through places. In 2021, Time included the Island among the 100 Greatest Places in the World, celebrating its beauty, hospitality, and ability to be both ancient and contemporary. That year, Sicily received the prestigious recognition of The World's 100 Greatest Places, confirming its status as a top tourist destination on the global stage. Taormina, Palermo, Sciacca: names that for the magazine are not just simple destinations, but symbols of an identity that continues to speak to the world. The most recent interest that the star-spangled magazine has shown in Sicily was in December 2025, when it spoke of Salvatore Vinci, the Agrigento native now technical lead of the Healthcare Facilities Electrification program of the World Health Organization. His name was listed among the most influential people in the world capable of shaping climate policies.

Looking back at 103 years of stories, a common thread emerges that connects everything: Sicily as a center of creativity, talent, and visions that have crossed oceans and generations. From the aeronautical laboratory of Bellanca to the sets of Scorsese, from the notes of Sinatra to the records of DiMaggio, from the scientific analyses of Fauci and Vinci to the landscapes that enchant travelers, the presence of Sicilians or children of Sicilians in Time is a tale of diaspora and pride, of roots that do not break and destinies that are fulfilled far from home, but always with Sicily in the heart. And it all begins there, in 1927, with an engineer from Sciacca who taught America how to fly. The first Italian on the cover of "Time". A true Sicilian.