An honorific: a courtesy form of address that sits before a first name. It came into Sicily with the Spanish, out of the Latin dominus, and for centuries it has been how the island marks respect, for the head of a family, a teacher, a priest, the person a village defers to. It is something a community grants rather than a state confers. It was never a rank of nobility, which is why Italy's 1948 abolition of noble titles left it untouched, and it carries no legal standing and cannot be used on any official document. Style yourself Don or Donna, and wear the name with a smile.