A shirtless sailor in a roughed up inflatable dinghy approached as we sat in the cockpit at anchor. Along with two friends, my wife Roxy and I had just arrived in Marsala, a working fishing port known for its fortified wine, on the western point of Sicily. “I just came to warn you to be extra careful!

Some people tried to steal my dinghy outboard twice today,” the man said as he held onto our teak toerail. “I was onshore for some groceries and fishermen told me they’d scared them off the first time, but when I returned they were in the dinghy again trying to cut the chain off my outboard!”