In the spring of 1314 King Robert of Naples consulted a soothsayer. He was planning a new assault on Sicily, the island-kingdom whose rebellious citizens had driven his grandfather from the throne in 1282 and placed themselves instead under the royal house of Catalonia–Aragon, and he wanted to know his chances for success. He had good reason to feel confident. The previous August, the German emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg – Dante's hero, Robert's nemesis, and the Sicilians' most powerful ally – had died unexpectedly while campaigning to unite all of Italy under his command. Moreover, the ever expanding Crown of Aragon confederation, of which Sicily was now a loose satellite, had for the moment committed the bulk of its military resources to the conquest of Sardinia. Sicily lay temptingly exposed, ripe for the taking.

According to Nicola Speciale's racy Historia sicula, our only source for this story, the augur told Robert (as augurs will) that he would indeed gain “Sicily and all her possessions.” These last words must have clinched the deal in Robert's mind, for among Sicily's possessions since 1311 was the duchy of Athens, a small but valuable principality also previously under Angevin control and still much coveted by the throne in Naples. Thus encouraged, Robert launched his attack. His fleet landed at the far western end of Sicily's long northern shore, near Castellamare. This was a rather desolate region, but a good place to land because of it.