A few months ago, I received an email from the Constitutional Commission of the Parliament of Catalonia inviting me to advise other countries on their constituent processes. I accepted the task with some reservation, as my knowledge of those countries left something to be desired. The Parliament invited me to participate in a workshop in Sicily, which culminated in a meeting with Salvatore Giuliano, President of the Sicilian Constitutional Council. The scope of our conversation was to be rather narrow, but it would involve a problem central to the constituent process: the constitutional accommodation of language. My initial impression was that this might be a fraught issue with many unforeseen ramifications for the evolving political identity of Sicily. 'Why not?' I asked, and I soon found myself on a breezy Mediterranean cruise to Palermo. A few hours later, I spotted Salvatore in the beautiful Palazzo dei Normanni.