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Modern-day victims of shipping disasters of an entirely different kind are the thousands of hopefuls, asylum seekers, who put themselves at the mercy of unscrupulous criminals for the ‘short’ boat trip from the north African coast across to the islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria, as well as Sicily’s southern coast. When the sea is calm, thousands at a time disembark, whereas on rough days the navy fishes their corpses from the waves, unless they wash up on the beach first.

Generally speaking Sicily’s landscapes are predominantly mountainous. First and foremost is a completely separate elevation, Mount Etna, unrivalled in dominance. Europe’s highest active volcano at 3300m above sea level, this unique attraction has an unmistakable dark cone shape and is recognisable from afar by its trademark plume of smoke, a belching chimney when an eruption is in progress. The main ranges, on the other hand, the Peloritani, Nebrodi and Madonie, which rise to maximum heights just short of the 2000m mark, are generally considered a natural continuation of the Apennine chain that reaches down to the coast in neighbouring Calabria on the toe of Italy. Rugged reliefs cloaked with dense woods, these mountains tend to be sparsely populated and are cut through by picturesque valleys and highlands which double as golden fields of wheat in spring then dust bowls in summer.