Abstract
Whilst Sicily, the place, has been described as a “terrestrial paradise”, Sicilians have been more negatively stereotyped, not only within Italy, but also globally. This paper, with its focus on filmic representations, argues that stereotyping of Sicilians, for an Italian as well as a global audience, allows space for destabilising characteristics, such as criminality, to be both contained and explored. It proposes that these stereotypes illustrate the ascendancy of audience need and expectations over any hegemonic intent in media representations and that their survival is embedded in aesthetic pleasure, which is partly fuelled by a sense of exotic difference.