This Sicilian community has endured for centuries. Can it survive a changing climate?

Piana degli Albanesi, founded 500 years ago by Albanian refugees, has lost nearly 17 percent of its population since 2015 as drought and wildfires make farming untenable in the Sicilian mountains. Families like Giorgia Caruso's have lost land and livestock to fires reaching three stories high, and a reservoir that once supplied the region nearly dried up entirely in 2024.

Researchers note the Mediterranean is warming 20 percent faster than the global average, and Sicily now accounts for nearly half of Italy's wildfires. Residents describe a stark choice between preserving a five-century-old culture and farming traditions, including the ricotta-making craft locals claim invented the cannolo, or leaving the land that sustained it.

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