The author opens his book with a quote from Winston Churchill writing about the Balkans, ‘They produce more history than they can consume,’ underlining the problems facing any writer trying to bottle the essence of Sicily. He cites beauty, conflict, civilisation and chaos as being the four ingredients that define the island. He has split his book into four main headings, namely History, Cities, Ancient Sites and Artists.

The history is told in quite a dry way, secco, rather than dolce, with outbursts of colour, interspersed with lists of monarchs, princes, emperor, emirs, governors, archbishops and barons, all jostling for position in this most fluid of kingdoms, as invasion after invasion is watched by its incredulous inhabitants like an unfolding pageant.