by Matthew Fort
I must also thank Justin Pollard of Unbound for the unstinting enthusiasm he showed for the project from the outset, and for his constancy through every hesitation, setback and flip-flop; to Isobel Kieran (or Frankish as she was when she began nudging me towards completion); to John Mitchinson, who finally took the book over the line; to Lauren Fulbright, who handled production with precision, tolerance and kindliness; to Anna Simpson who tactfully but firmly shepherded me through the latter stages; to Louise Haines, whose wise counsel, advice and generous encouragement have been invaluable aids.
Somewhere in the narrative I quote John Keat’s poem ‘On First Looking Into Chapman’s Home’: ‘Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold/ And many goodly states and kingdoms seen.’ That’s all true, but it was the people I met along the way, who talked to me about their lives, fed me, poured wine and wisdom into me, put me in touch with their friends, showed me unstinting generosity, who brightened my days: Commissario Mario Salzano; Stefano and Gabriella Farkas; Francesco and Gabriella Carfagna; Lina Casu; Ian and Henny; Peppino and Raimonda Sanna; Giovanni Ruffa, Bruno Bego and Marco Bianchi and Nadia Durando for sharing their passion for the corner of Sardinia around Santadi; Riccardo and Silvia d’Ambra; the kindly staff at the Hotel Villa d’Orta; Umberto who helped me see the Capri underneath the tourist hordes; Matteo Rugghia who shared the delights of the Pontine Islands; Carlo Vespa and his generous friends on Stromboli; Maurizio Di Dio and Nino Calamuneri for their help in finding accommodation on Salina and Filicudi; Kiki McDonogh and Giuseppe Mascoli, whose presence illuminated Salina; Lisa Hilton, who brought such fun and glamour to Alicudi and Filicudi; Anna Ventura and her husband, Bill; Mariano Brischetto of the burnished tenor voice, unquenchable generosity and irrepressible sense of adventure; Damiano Sferlazzo, the vice sindaco (deputy mayor) of Lampedusa; and Rory Gibson who travelled halfway around the world to join me in Venice at the end of the summer. Many thanks also to Marcello Marengo of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo for his help with all the bookings.
But there are two people to whom I owe even greater gratiude – John Irving and my daughter, Lois.
John kept me company from start to finish, quite literally, even if he was actually physically present for a few days only. He was the one who sorted out all the paperwork involving buying, licensing and insuring a Vespa in Italy; who kept an eye on ferry timetables, booked me into hotels and B&Bs, put me in touch with friends and friends of friends, sorted out confusions and provided a running commentary on my progress. Equally valuable has been his contribution to this book. With characteristic diligence and taste he has corrected my Italian, my innumerable misspellings, contradictions and repetitions, checked facts and rectified them when I’d got them wrong. Any correct Italian is down to John. Anything wrong is down to my own incompetence. I owe him a debt I can never repay.
But most of all I’m indebted to Lois, my daughter, who is simply the most extraordinary human being I know. She encouraged me when necessary, chivvied me when necessary, joined me for periods, provided me with perspective, love and support, and it is to her I dedicate this book.
INDEX
Aeolian Islands, 180, 214, 219, 223
Aeolian Islands Preservation Fund, 208–9
Aeschylus, 111, 275, 277
Aga Khan, 60
Agira, 267–70
Agrigento, 252, 254
Agrippina the Elder, 176
Agrippina the Younger, 163
Alghero, 87–9, 91, 103, 217
Alicudi, 180, 196, 209, 213–15, 311
Alperovici, Boris, 157
Altura, 41–2, 47–9, 311
American Civil War, 223
anchovies, salted, 38
Ancona, 32, 291
Anni di piombo (Years of Lead), 28
Antinori, Pietro, 25
Antonioni, Michelangelo, 281
Apicius, 109
Aprea, Dr Giuseppe, 152, 154
apricots, dried, 228
aragosta (Mediterranean crayfish), 39
Armani, Giorgio, 247
Army of the Vosges, 73
Asinara, 83–5
Aspromonte, Battle of, 129
Auden, W. H., 129
Augustus, Emperor, 30–1, 149, 176
baccalà con crema di ceci, 10
Baedeker, Karl, 146
Baglioni, Claudio, 236
Balia, Alberto, 100–1, 117
Bart, Lionel, 235–6
Basho, Matsuo, 196
Basilica dei Frari (Venice), 304–5
Battle of the Nile, 272
Bego, Bruno, 100–1
Belisarius, General, 167
Bellini, Vincenzo, 246
Bembo, Bonifacio, 152
Benson, E. F., 154
Berkeley, Bishop George, 124, 130
Bianchi, Marco, 100–1, 103–4, 116–17
Bixio, Nino, 272
Blackwood, Algernon, 200
bobba, 112–13
Boer War, 74
Bonaparte, Pauline, 33
Bonica, John, 217–18
Booth, John Wilkes, 8
Bordiga, Amadeo, 224
Borsellino, Paolo, 30
Bottega, Roberto, 171
Braudel, Fernand, 282–3
Bridport family, 272–3
Brischetto, Mariano, 246–7, 249, 275–9, 281
Bronte, 270–5, 279
Brown, Arthur ‘Fire’, 183
Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, 233
Burton, Richard, 125
Byron, Lord, 7
Cagliari, 119–20
Calatafimi, Battle of, 250–1
Caligula, Emperor, 163, 176
Caltanissetta, 265–6
Calvin, John, 9
Camillieri, Andrea, 252
Camporesi, Piero, 174–5
capers, 203–5
caponata, 185, 205, 213, 221
Caprera, 67, 70–6, 287
Capri, 117, 149–61, 210, 262, 311
Caracciolo, Francesco, 272
Carey, Mariah, 154
Carfagna, Francesco and Gabriella, 35–43, 47–8, 50–2, 103, 228, 311
Carloforte, 217
Carlyle, Thomas, 124
Carna, 84
Casilozu cheese, 96–9
Casu, Lina, 65–7
Cavafy, C. P., 241
cave rabbits, 126–8, 131–2, 311
Cavour, Count Camillo Benso di, 72
Cervia, 32, 55–6, 59, 186, 312
Cesarini, Nino, 158
Charles V, Emperor, 164
cheese-making, 97–9
Chesterton, G.K., 90
chicories, wild, 280
Chiesa dei Gesuiti (Venice), 296
Chiesa della Redentore (Venice), 309–10
Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore (Venice), 306
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute (Venice), 309
Churchill, John, first Duke of Marlborough, 274
ciambellone della nonna, 92
Circe’s island, 164–5
Clare, John, 303
Claudia Octavia, 176
Claudius, Emperor, 176
Code Napoleon, 217
coniglio all’ischitana, 126–7
Corneille, Pierre, 33
Cortona, 44
Costa Concordia, 46
costolette di agnello, 82
couscous, 261
Curie, Marie, 129
d’Ambra, Riccardo, 125–8, 137, 290
David, Elizabeth, 155–6
Denza, Rita, 60–1
Diodorus Siculus, 268
Dolce, Domenico, 188
Domitian, Emperor, 176
Donegani, Guido, 8
Donizetti, Gaetano, 134–6
donkeys, albino, 83–5
Doria, Andrea, 164
Douglas, Norman, 150, 154–7
Dudley, Robert, Duke of Northumberland, 6–7
Dudley, Robert, Earl of Leicester, 6
Durrell, Lawrence, 124
Dynamic Inertia, 206–7
eclipse of the moon, 198–200
Edward VII, King, 141
Egadi Islands, 229, 236–7
Elba, 18–26, 31–5, 49, 82, 146, 250
Empedocles, 252
Eugeni, Carlo, 22–4
European Union, 176–7
Falcone, Giovanni, 30
Fano, 291
Farkas, Stefano and Francesca, 19–20, 25–6, 37, 42, 311
Favignana, 229–36, 240–2, 273, 311
Federica, Anna, 155
Fellini, Federico, 162, 292
Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 7
Ferdinand, King of Bourbon, 272
Ferdinand, King of Naples, 286
Ferrante, Elena, 169
Ferrier, Kathleen, 121
Fersen, Jacques, 154, 157–8
Fertilia, 89–90
Festival Puccini di Torre del Lago, 276–7
Fielding, Henry, 7
Fields, Gracie, 150, 154, 157
Filicudi, 180, 196, 209–19, 247
fish mayonnaise, 39
fish traps, 106–7
Flavia Domitilla, 176
Flavius Clemens, 176
Fois, Fernando, 109–11
Fons Bandusia, 105
Formia, 161, 173, 178
Forsyth, Bill, 162
Fort, Lois, 40–1, 43–8, 139, 196, 294–5, 298–300, 302, 304, 311
Fox, Robert, 314
Franco-Prussian War, 73
frogs, 135–6
Gabbana, Stefano, 188
gamberetti
di nassa, 183, 198, 211
usticesi, 227
Garibaldi, Francesca, 75
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 68, 71–6, 92, 129, 172, 212, 250–1, 272
Garibaldi, Giuseppe II, 73–4
Garibaldi, Ricciotti, 73
garum sauce, 255
Gaudí, Antoni, 201
Gavi, 170
Gelateria Gola (Lampedusa), 261–2
Gelateria Lapinelli (Stromboli), 186–7
Gelateria Pica (Rome), 186
George V, King, 141, 278
Giannutri, 43–6
Giba, 114
Gibson, Rory, 294–5, 298–9, 302, 304
Giglio, 35–43, 46–52, 146, 311
Gil, Gilberto, 227
Gilberto, Astrid, 177, 227
Glasgow Ice Cream Wars, 162
Glasgow Ladies Sick and Wounded Fund, 74
Gorgona, 9–17, 30, 49, 311
Gorky, Maxim, 149, 154, 159–60
Gramsci, Antonio, 224–5, 228
Greek theatres, 134, 168, 264
Greene, Graham, 149–50, 154
Greer, Germaine, 162, 292
grigliata mista di suino, 89
Hamilton, Emma, 7
Heller, Joseph, 27
Hemingway, Ernest, 124, 297
Heyward, George, 155
Hill, Shaun, 109
homosexuality, 285
honey, 15–17, 55, 116
arbutus, 80
cedro, 65–7
rosemary, 15
Hopcraft, Harriet Constance, 73
Horace, 105, 156
House of Bertoleoni, 57–8
Howard, Douglas, Baroness Sheffield, 6
Howard, William, first Baron Effingham, 6
I Solisti Veneti, 48
Ibsen, Henrik, 128
Il Postino, 146, 202
Il Vernacoliere, 5
insalata di polpo alla stintinesi, 86
Irving, John, 5, 35, 94, 161–3, 168–73, 268, 311
Is Xianas, 99–100, 103, 115, 117, 124
Ischia, 117, 124–39, 144–5, 166, 311, 314
Italian Communist Party, 9, 224, 228
Italian cooking, classic, 81–2
Jacobs, W. W., 200
Jacono, Bishop Johannis, 266
Johnson, Samuel, 8
Jones, Inigo, 7
Julia Livilla, 163, 176
Julia the Elder, 176
Juventus, 161, 171
Kingdom of Naples, 164, 171
Kingsmill, Hugh, 141
Kissinger, Henry, 60
knife-making, 93–5
Kos, 258
Krupp, Alfred, 149, 154, 160
La Bohème, 275–9
La Crisi (The Crisis), 102, 258
La Maddalena, 67, 70–1, 76–7
La Mattanza (Mafia wars), 111
La Mortella, 134–6
la rustichella, 264–5
la tonnina, 22, 25
Lake Comacchio, 106
Lampedusa, Giuseppe Tomasi di, 255
Lampedusa, 255–63, 311
Lancaster, Burt, 125
Larkin, Philip, 308
launeddas (Sardinian pan pipes), 101
Lawrence, D. H., 64
Lawrence, T. E., 124
Lehrer, Tom, 60
Lenin, Vladimir, 159–61
lentils, 227–8
Leopardi, Giacomo, 18
Levi, Carlo, 273
Li Causi, Rino, 232
Licenza, 90–1, 104–5, 244, 312
limoni pane, 147–9
Lincoln, Abraham, 8
Lipari, 180, 204, 206, 217, 219
Livorno, 4–10, 17, 82
Locanda Cipriani, 297–8
Loch Sunart, 84
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 172
Longo, Margharita, 227–8
Lovecraft, H. P., 199
Luther, Martin, 9
McAdam, John, 74
MacDonald, George, 207
McGill, Donald, 124
Mackenzie, Compton, 154
Maio, Dr, 138
Malaparte, Curzio, 149, 154
Malvasia di Lipari, 118, 185, 203
Mann, Thomas, 149
Marchesi di Frescobaldi, 14
Marettimo, 236–40
marmorata (marble trout), 26
Marsala wine, 272–4
Mascoli, Giuseppe, 207, 216, 260
Matsushima islands, 196
Maugham, Somerset, 154
Medici, Cosimo de, 20
Mediterranean Sea, 282–3, 288–9, 314
Mercantini, Luigi, 171
Messina, 264, 281–3
mezzanelli, 126
Middleton-on-Sea, 106
Milazzo, 219
Mill, John Stuart, 124
Modigliani, Amedeo, 9
Modugno, Domenico, 262
moeche, 301
Molara, 63
Molière, 33
Mondugno, Domenico, 125
Monte Capanne, 21
Montefiore, Moses Haim, 9
Monti Lucretili, 240, 244
Morante, Elsa, 146
moscardini alla diavola, 66
Moscato di Pantelleria, 248
Mozia, 245
Munthe, Axel, 149, 154
Mura, Piero, 93–5
Murat, Joachim, 172
Mussolini, Benito, 8, 11, 164, 285
Mycenae, 146
Napier, Charles, 164
Naples, 178–80
Napoleon Bonaparte, 19, 31–4, 76, 172
Negombos, 129–31
Nelson, Admiral Lord, 7, 76, 272–4
Nero, Emperor, 163, 176
Neruda, Pablo, 129
Newcombe, John, 87
Newman, Cardinal John Henry, 283
Nicolson, Harold, 141
Nomura, Kazuo, 179
Nuovo Qartetto italiano, 48
Nuraghi, 78–9
Odyssey, 164–5
Olympic Games, 268
Onetta, Franco, 23–4, 26
Orru, Signor, 114–15
Pacini, Cecilia, 34
Palamarola, 167
Palermo, 220–2, 228–9, 251, 254
Palladio, Andrea, 306, 309
Panarea, 180, 216, 219
Pantaleo, 104
Pantelleria, 204, 206, 246–50, 254, 262
Pantheon (Rome), 310
Pardini, Francesco ‘Ghigo’, 51
Parthenopean Republic, 272
Passito di Pantelleria
, 248
pasta
con salsa di coniglio, 126–7
fermented, 14
see also scialetelli alla ciamurra; spaghetti; stracci; tagliatelle
Paulilatino, 92–3, 95, 99
Pentonville Prison, 13–14
Pesaro Madonna (Titian), 305
Pesaro, 291
Peter I of Aragon, 279
Philip II of Spain, 21
Pianosa, 27–31, 44, 49
pigs
black pigs of the Nebrodi, 220, 279–80
in Mantuan countryside, 14
pigs’ cheeks, cured, 9, 142
Pirandello, Luigi, 252
Pisacane, Carlo, 171–2
pistachios, 270–1
Pizzo, 172
Pliny, 129
pompia, 64–5, 67, 147
ponce alla livornese, 10
Pontius Pilate, 163
Ponza, 161–73, 177, 217, 311
Porto Empedocle, 252, 250–4, 256, 258, 263–4
Porto Pino, 106–7
Pratt, Hugo, 292
Procida, 117, 145–9, 166
Racine, Jean, 33
Randazzo, 279
refugees, 251, 256–9, 263
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 7
Rialto Market, 299, 304–5, 308
ricciola (amberjack), 263
Ridler, Anne, 124
Riina, Toto, 84, 266
Rimini, 291–2
Ritz, Charles, 19
Roche, Tony, 87
Rosa, Lucia, 169
Rosello, Roberto, 204–5
Ross, Robert, 154
Rosso, Andrea, 112
Ruffa, Giovanni, 99–101
Russian salad, 261
Sabini, Charles, 163
St Cecilia, 298
St Francis of Assisi, 62
St Luke, 274–5
Salina, 180, 190, 194–210, 217, 219, 311–12
Salone del Gusto, 35
salsicce, 81–2
Salzano, Commissario Mario, 12–16
San Calogero, 252–3, 255
San Domino, 283–5, 288–90, 311
San Nicola, 283–4, 286–8
San Pietro, 108, 110, 111–14
San Silverio, 167, 170
Sanna, Peppino, 92, 97–9
Sant’Antioco, 108–11
Sant’Erasmo, 306–9
Santadi, 101–2, 114
Santo Stefano, 176
Sapri, 169, 171–2
Sardinia, 54–7, 60–70, 77–83, 85–108, 114–21, 124, 211
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 304
Schønemann, Anders, 229
scialetelli alla ciamurra, 160
scorfano con patate, 83
sea salt, 205–6, 245–6
seadas, 67
Selassie, Ras Imiru Haile
Sferlazzo, Damiano, 257–9
Sforza, Francesco, 152