Teatro Greco in Taormina

Woken at 4am by two men with chainsaws going full blast outside our hotel bedroom window.

They are about to start cutting down trees. In the dark.
We watch them from our balcony. The racket went on for about twenty minutes making it impossible to sleep.
It stops as suddenly as it began.

We suspect our hotel had slipped behind with its payments. Or something. And they needed a little reminder.

I would love to know what the delegation of Japanese businessmen staying here in Catania made of this Sicilian way of doing business.

One of the most popular souvenirs is a black apron with an image of Marlon Brando as the Godfather.

Speaking of which we went to Taormina, the hilltop holiday resort of the Mafia and home of the 2,000 year Greek ampitheatre ( pictured above) on the local bus.


This place is famous too for its designer shops, spectacular location and list of famous writers,artists and celebrities including Oscar Wilde, Goethe,Hollywood stars, Himmler and King Edward VII.

But DH.Lawrence who wrote Lady Chatterleys Lover during three years he lived there in the 1920s is not mentioned. He was scathing about the shops and suggested that the best thing that could happen was for Mt Etna to dump lava on the main street and cauterise it.