Sicily and the slow collapse of civilisation

Even in the long-shadowed depths of winter, Sicily can be a seductive place. From the hushed, hidden and time-polished marble piazzas of intricately lovely Ortygia, to the White Lotus out-of-season treats of ‘so pretty it hurts’ (Ernest Hemingway) Taormina, this blessed island has for obvious reasons been attracting invaders and colonisers for thousands of years. Indeed, enigmatic remains at Cozzo Matrice, near the lake of Pergusa – where Hades abducted the goddess Persephone – suggest Sicily might boast some of the oldest built human settlements on the planet.

 Such is the longevity of human civilisation on Sicily, it is an amusing game to speculate when, within those long centuries, it might have peaked: as in, achieved its most noble, humane and beauteous form. You could, for instance, easily go as far back as the Hellenic colonies. There are few sights in Europe that are simultaneously as handsome and exhilaratingly proud as the great Greek temples of Agrigento, glowing and golden in the slant January sun, arrayed with casual grandeur on their hilltops in the south of the island.