Italy’s southern island of Sicily is a huge 10 million square chunk of volcanic land in the Mediterranean with a population of five million. But off its northwestern coast are three small Aegadian islands, 175 miles from Tunis, of which the largest, Favignana, is less than three miles at its widest point with a population of just over 4,000 people.

The only way to get there is by boat, 11 miles from the Sicilian town of Trapani, so although it gets tourists during the season, it is still a largely unfamiliar, craggy, cave-pocked and reclusive place where peace and quiet is the rule and the beaches are relatively barren.