Re-publishing Permission
Would you like to use material from Best of Sicily on your website? This is possible, but please read this page first. The text and images on this website (bestofsicily.com) are original, copyright material owned by the publishers of this website or (where indicated) used by permission of other copyright holders. Some visual items (medieval paintings, etc.) are in the public domain, while others incorporate the use of historical or other images in a novel manner which, in law, constitutes their definition as original works. All written material is authored by our staff or by the authors indicated. Some book reviews were originally published by Amazon (in the United Kingdom or United States) and are used, along with cover images, by permission in order to promote books sold by Amazon, while certain cinematic images are published in compliance with "public use" in the promotion, via critical reviews, of films. International copyright acts such as the Berne Convention and various Asian, European Union and North American treaties make it illegal to use copyright information without the permission of the author or copyright holder. The term "author" is understood to include visual artists as well as authors of written works. The publishers of Best of Sicily occasionally grant permission (usually free of charge) for the non-commercial re-publication of certain material under certain conditions.

Intellectual Property Theft
Despite what you may think, unauthorised use of copyright material is illegal, whether it's contained in a book, DVD, CD or website. Quoting briefly from a book and citing the source is a legitimate practice, while using entire pages of text and presenting the content as if it were your own (without citing the source or author) is dishonest and illegal under international law. The use of unaltered images is illegal unless you have permission to use them. We're not talking about private "fair use" for yourself or a few people you know, but reproduction (re-publication) for viewing by hundreds or thousands of people - for example, on a website or in a book. With two million visitors annually, Best of Sicily is the kind of content-rich site that people find convenient to "borrow" from, but that doesn't justify illegal activity. It may surprise you to know that we have occasionally taken action against offenders - particularly (but not exclusively) institutional ones (such as travel bureaux and travel agencies) in Italy, the United States, Canada and Australia. Here's an especially offensive example:

ENIT (Ente Nazionale Italiano per il Turismo, Italy's national tourism board) made illegal use of several photographs and paintings first published on Best of Sicily, which they re-published on some pages dealing with the life of Emperor Frederick II in Italy. These were original works, rendered in traditional (non-digital) media such as water colour which, apart from being registered for copyright in the United States, could easily have been shown to a judge in Italy as evidence in a court of law. We took action and ENIT removed the copyright material from their website.

Students and Teachers
This website is often used as a research reference by students and teachers. This should be done in a pragmatic way, encouraging the gathering, but not necessarily the simple duplication, of information. It is acceptable to quote a passage and cite its source, but not to print pages of another author's text and then claim them as one's own words. For some practical advice, visit our page for students.

Obtaining Permission
Yes, it is possible to obtain free permission to re-publish some of our work if certain conditions are met. In general, we allow free re-publication on a website of up to two (2) pages of text and as many as two (2) images in JPEG or GIF format if the source (Best of Sicily) is clearly and legibly indicated and a link to this site's homepage included near the text or images used. (We generally discourage re-publication of images, we may refuse to grant re-publication permission, and we may charge for more extensive use of material.) Preference is given to non-commercial or non-profit sites. Please contact our editors with your request if you wish to publish material from our website, indicating "copyright permission" as the subject. The copyright notice is:

©2012 Best of Sicily (bestofsicily.com). Used by permission.

The linking code (which opens the linked page in a new browser window so that visitors who choose to read Best of Sicily will not automatically leave your site) is:

<a href="http://www.bestofsicily.com/" target="_blank">bestofsicily.com</a>

In addition to the low-resolution images on this website (not suitable for print use), Best of Sicily has an extensive archive of high resolution digital (300 dpi TIFF) photographs which may be used for a fee. See our consulting page for details.