The Sicily project has two main goals.

One is to investigate the ethnic and genetic diversity of Sicily as shown through the DNA of the descendants of those born in Sicily. In most cases project members are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Sicilians. But, through the genetic story told in their yDNA and mtDNA, we can discover the heritage of Sicilians over the centuries. We hope that some of what we learn through the results of this project can contribute to the knowledge of human migrations being studied by population geneticists.

The second goal, especially as we recruit more members, is to actually establish connections - a common ancestor - between some members. Genetic genealogy is a new tool in genealogy research that can supplement and help make breakthroughs in traditional records-based research. Once that common ancestor has been discovered, then much more productive research in the records can help fill out family trees.