A US military helicopter flies over Sicily in a photo published online by the US Navy on March 13, 2026. MC2 ANDY A. ANDERSON/US NAVY
One photograph – showing a US military helicopter in a nature reserve in Sicily's interior and posted by the US Navy on its Instagram account – was enough to ignite controversy in Italy over the Trump administration's use of its Italian bases during the war launched with Israel against Iran. In a country with a strong pacifist sentiment, where operations against Tehran are deeply unpopular – and on an island that often feels held hostage by its strategic location – the incident offered the opposition a new line of attack against the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
The controversy began on Sunday, March 15, when mayors from small towns near the protected Madonie area, close to Mount Etna, wrote to the authorities condemning the landing of two MH-60S Seahawk helicopters at Piano Catarineci, in the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The two aircraft had taken off from the Sigonella air base in eastern Sicily.
Valentina Chinnici, a regional MP in the Sicilian Assembly from the center-left Partito Democratico (Democratic Party), took up the issue, announcing that she had requested clarification from the Sicilian government. "The landing of these US Navy war helicopters could drag our island and Italy into a scenario of heightened military tension, with no information or democratic debate whatsoever," she said.
