In 1990 I published a lengthy article on Sicily — and was astonished by the response from English readers who had connections with the island, in some cases going back 200 years and more. All, with one exception, were nostalgic. The exception was an evidently elderly Englishman who was born in Sicily, but never returned after the war, ‘my frequent clashes with the fascists being a rather unpleasant reminder and cause of my reluctance to revisit the place’. But even his criticism was qualified. ‘I have always been proud of being loosely associated with these past historical events in Sicily.’
All other correspondents looked back as to a golden age, as though exiled from Shangri-La. They ranged from the old soldier who had taken part in the 1943 landing at Syracuse and fought his way north, and who was captivated by the island despite the terrible events, to the lady whose grandfather owned an ice factory in Palermo and who established a branch of the RSPCA and an orphanage. She gave some interesting information on the perennial subject of the Mafia. Her grandfather was assured that he would not be attacked by brigands while travelling because his coachman was the local representative of the Mafia.
Subsequent to the article, I was invited to join a nascent organisation named after the great Syracusan mathematician Archimedes, formed to promote Anglo– Sicilian cultural relations. Sadly, the prominent Sicilian who was backing the society died suddenly and the idea languished. However, it was revived again last month with a symposium in Sicily’s Castello Nelson, a fortified manor house given to Nelson by the King of Naples for services rendered in 1798.
The Anglo–Sicilian relationship goes back almost a thousand years, for both England and Sicily were conquered, within six years of each other, by the Normans.
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