Italy

Antoine's view

We left the port of Calvi that day on a catamaran... engine powered. Winds on the Mediterranean can be mild or non-existent then suddenly far too strong, which isn?t ideal if you want to travel under sail. As Ulysses knew to his cost, it took him ten years to get back to his beloved Penelope. And we have a schedule to respect for the film we?re making: we must recce all the small islands on the Italian coast, not forgetting a short visit to Sardinia. We?ve already filmed here a few months ago when I was recording the presentations for all our films before they go out on Italian television. I was lucky to go deep into Sardinia, the Gennargentu mountains, and see the ewes being milked and the Pecorino Sardo being made in the traditional way. And the local bread being baked too, it?s so fine that it?s called ?Carta Musica? (music paper).

We put out to sea. I know quite a few of these islands as I?ve called in at them several times. In May I found them all peaceful and welcoming. I felt at home on Elba as I?ve already visited many important sites from the Napoleonic period: Ajaccio, the Isle d?Aix and of course Sainte Hélène. Monte Cristo is an old dream, I finally got permission - which wasn?t easy - to put in there... We didn?t find the treasure and I?ll never be Count!

In Ventotene I had an appointment with my memories: almost twenty years ago I spent a magical week in this tiny port carved into the cliff by the Romans. The only noticeable change since then is the underwater diving centres that offer to take tourists out to discover the deep.

Procida was love at first sight! You?ll discover a bit further on the fascinating setting of the tiny port of Coricella with its pastel coloured houses... Hey, as I?m writing these words I?d happily fly off to Coricella to spend a few quiet days in this spontaneous architectural wonderland. Capri lived up to all my expectations, of course, and my visit to the Blue Grotto accompanied by the tenor voices of the oarsmen was unforgettable... like the gondolier?s song that carried me down the Grand Canal, and the Canalettos of Venice. Venice has her place in this book too as she is a real archipelago! Sailors talk about ?the Sicilian Triangle?, a triangular zone north west of the Straits of Messina where weather conditions can deteriorate quite unexpectedly... This is where, thirty years ago, I quit a cruise with some ?friends? as it was turning into a disaster, not so much because of the weather, more the bad feeling between the crew members. I swore I?d never sail again when I disembarked. It took me two or three years to find the solution: sailing solo!

Anyway, this year the weather was perfect. Our brave little catamaran headed south, past the small islands dotting the Italian coast until we reached the Aeolian Islands. This was another mythical spot in Ulysses? day: the ancient Green sailors saw the volcanic tip of Stromboli as the oldest lighthouse in the Mediterranean. People came from far and wide to the Lipari Islands, searching for obsidian (volcanic glass) which they used for making weapons. Today the Aeolian archipelago offers a wide range of surroundings: from the stylish and social Panarea Island to the tiny islands of Alicudi and Filiculdi where time seems to have stood still. Volcanic phenomena is omnipresent here, from the ?courteous? eruptions of Stromboli, the twin peaks of Salina, the pumice stone of Lipari to the hot mud baths of Vulcano.

We sailed through the Strait of Messina, safely past Charybdis and Scylla, the two whirlpools that terrorizes the ancient Greek sailors. What is more frightening today is the heavy non-stop ferryboat traffic, linking the tip of Calabria with Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean. Etna and the basalt rocks of the Alcantara Gorges recall volcanoes too, and nowhere is Nature more beautiful than in the Nebrodi nature reserve, a park where culture and wildlife mingle.