0:00:04 > 0:00:07'I'm embarking on a new railway adventure that will take me
0:00:07 > 0:00:09'across the heart of Europe.'
0:00:11 > 0:00:15I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide,
0:00:15 > 0:00:20dated 1913, which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel
0:00:20 > 0:00:21for the British tourist.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28'It told travellers where to go, what to see, and how to navigate
0:00:28 > 0:00:31'the thousands of miles of tracks crisscrossing the Continent.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33'Now, a century later,
0:00:33 > 0:00:38'I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,
0:00:38 > 0:00:42'where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.'
0:00:42 > 0:00:47I want to rediscover that lost Europe, that in 1913 couldn't know
0:00:47 > 0:00:52that its way of life would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11I'm continuing my journey through Southern Italy.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16I began in Rome and travelled Southeast, skirting the Apennine Mountains to Naples.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Today I'll cross to the glamorous island of Capri.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Heading further south towards the toe of Italy,
0:01:23 > 0:01:25I'll visit Messina,
0:01:25 > 0:01:26gateway to Sicily.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30I'll end my journey in ancient Taormina.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38In Naples, I'll learn about the true art of pizza...
0:01:38 > 0:01:39You know Picasso?
0:01:39 > 0:01:42- I do know Picasso. - You make Picasso, please.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45..confront death and destruction in Messina...
0:01:45 > 0:01:50Modern estimates reckon that perhaps 60 or 80,000 were killed.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53..and be all at sea on my train...
0:01:53 > 0:01:55It's quite alarming that we are actually sailing
0:01:55 > 0:01:57while the bow door is still coming down.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15I couldn't visit Naples without sampling the food.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Arguably the city's most famous dish,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19exported all round the world,
0:02:19 > 0:02:21is the Neapolitan pizza.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27It started life as far back as 1522,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29when tomatoes from the New World
0:02:29 > 0:02:32were combined with local Neapolitan bread.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35But the more widely it spread,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38the further it moved away from its authentic origins.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42So 70 of Naples' most famous pizza-making families
0:02:42 > 0:02:46grouped together to form the True Neapolitan Pizza Association.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Pizzeria Mattozzi opened in 1832
0:02:50 > 0:02:55and has fed its fair share of hungry Edwardian travellers.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57- Paulo.- Hi, Mike, how are you?
0:02:57 > 0:03:00It's good to see you. Are we going to make some pizza?
0:03:00 > 0:03:03OK, you make without this, and you make with this for pizza.
0:03:03 > 0:03:04- OK.- OK?
0:03:04 > 0:03:07You make the pizza here at the front of the restaurant?
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Yes. Traditional of pizza Neapolitan.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11It's beautiful.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15'Its doughy success is down to its strong white flour.'
0:03:15 > 0:03:18You make the dough in the flour...
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and you make three movements. It's important.
0:03:21 > 0:03:27One...two and three. I show you fast. OK?
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Wow!
0:03:34 > 0:03:38This is the system, the traditional system of Napoli.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42- I couldn't even see your hands moving, it was so fast.- Very fast.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44You make it here...
0:03:44 > 0:03:46- Down.- With up.- And up.- Yes. Yes.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48- And then I turn it over?- Change.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51One, two and three.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55But why is my pizza not round? Will it work out?
0:03:55 > 0:03:56Can I save this one?
0:03:56 > 0:03:58- Yes. One, two, three. - One, two, three.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02- But it's still not going round. - I know. I know.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05'OK, so I cheated. It's Paolo's.'
0:04:05 > 0:04:09OK, you make a tomato. One spoon, you make the round.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Do you know Picasso?
0:04:11 > 0:04:12I do know Picasso.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Yes. You make the Picasso, please. OK?
0:04:15 > 0:04:18- OK.- Now make a round motion.
0:04:18 > 0:04:19This is mozzarella.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22- Yes.- On top of our tomato.- OK.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23And do you make oil?
0:04:23 > 0:04:25I have to make a figure six.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27- Sempre.- Si.- Va bene.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Six better. Perfect.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33- And you make in the oven.- Really? Ready for the oven already?
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Now, Paulo, does it go a long way back?
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Can you hold that? It's very strong.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Without, without.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42- Ah!- OK.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45The oven is so beautiful.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50At the back there are all the glowing embers of the logs of wood
0:04:50 > 0:04:52and we just put the pizza in the foreground.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56And I can already see the pizza changing, cooking.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58It's ready. Yeah.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00OK. You taste your pizza.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02- Yes, please.- Right.
0:05:02 > 0:05:03OK. You ready?
0:05:03 > 0:05:05- Buon appetito!- Buon appetito!
0:05:06 > 0:05:07- Mm!- Mmm!
0:05:07 > 0:05:08- Good!- Bravo!
0:05:08 > 0:05:10- Good, good!- Very good.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Very good topping. Good.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15- Mm!- It's delicious.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26I'm up early, leaving Naples and its overwhelming intensity behind.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Tourism until the late 19th century
0:05:29 > 0:05:32had largely been a northern European phenomenon.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36In 1913, it must have taken a plucky sort of traveller
0:05:36 > 0:05:40to head so far south into this untamed world.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44INDISTINCT CHATTER
0:05:52 > 0:05:55'I'm taking a ferry to make the 25-mile trip
0:05:55 > 0:05:58'to the island of Capri.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02'Edwardian travellers confronted with a modern ship
0:06:02 > 0:06:05'would be searching for the boiler and funnel.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14'But at the stern, this scene might have been more familiar.'
0:06:19 > 0:06:22I've been trying to figure out the rules of this game.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26They seem to follow suit, when they can...
0:06:29 > 0:06:33..but at the end, they count up the cards they've got left,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35which count against them, I think, like penalties.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38So it's a bit like a combination of whist and rummy,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40but vastly more exciting than either.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44'It's been played here for hundreds of years
0:06:44 > 0:06:46'and the name in Italian means broom,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51'since taking a scopa means to sweep all the cards from the table.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55'It involves lively, colourful and strongly-worded banter.'
0:06:55 > 0:06:56LAUGHTER
0:07:09 > 0:07:11On a day like this,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14the island of Capri seems to float above the waves
0:07:14 > 0:07:16on a little bank of mist.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Perhaps it's trying to return to heaven.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28'By the early 20th century, the island was a holiday destination
0:07:28 > 0:07:31'for Europe's artistic and literary intelligentsia.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38'Librarian Carmelina Fiorentino is from Capri
0:07:38 > 0:07:40'and knows all about the island's history.'
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Carmelina, the island, from here, is so beautiful,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50but what was the particular magnet for writers and artists
0:07:50 > 0:07:53at the beginning of the 19th century?
0:07:53 > 0:07:55That's the particular light,
0:07:55 > 0:07:56very bright light.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00When you arrived at the harbour,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04you saw how clear are the water.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08And there are so many natural beauties,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12actually, we are not grateful enough to them now.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19One of those amazing natural beauties was the Blue Grotto.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23It was discovered in 1826 by a German writer named August Kopisch,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27who wrote about finding a huge blue sea cave.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32And his book, The Blue Grotto, did the 19th-century equivalent
0:08:32 > 0:08:36of going viral, attracting artists from all over the world.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40They started to arrive for the Blue Grotto.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44But they started to appreciate, also,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47the natural beauties of the island
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and also the traditional way of life.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55And last, but not least, the beauty of the girls.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57They could use as models.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03The Capri women, with their exotic looks,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05fascinated both writers and painters.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08John Singer Sargent was considered
0:09:08 > 0:09:11the leading portrait painter of his generation.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16And during the late 19th century, he immortalised those women.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20He arrived with Frank Hyde, who was another English painter,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23who introduced him to the local models
0:09:23 > 0:09:30and to the hotelier, where most of the artists used to paint.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35From the studio, he could admire a wonderful view of the Vesuvio.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Most importantly, Hyde introduced Sargent
0:09:39 > 0:09:41to local girl, Rosina Ferrara,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44who became his model and muse.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47You can see her in hundreds of pictures.
0:09:47 > 0:09:53Rosina was 14 when she started to be a model.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57And she was a little bit different from her peers.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00First of all, she could speak French fluently.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05And she was, er...she didn't obey to priests,
0:10:05 > 0:10:10who prevented the girls to pose for painters.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Modelling for money must have been welcome work for the Capri women.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21Life was tough and the island women had to do hard manual labour
0:10:21 > 0:10:24while their men were away fishing.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Rosina and the other models would surely have leapt at the chance
0:10:27 > 0:10:30to be paid for sitting still.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32She was an Arab type.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35She had dark eyes, dark skin, dark hair.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- Yes, yes.- Typical of Capri, or not?
0:10:38 > 0:10:39Yes, of that period, yes.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Most of the girls, we can see were like her.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50But thanks to Sargent's work, Rosina and Capri live on,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54captured in his paintings which hang in art galleries the world over.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05Now I'm beginning to see the island through John Singer Sargent's eyes.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Splendid!
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Its breathtaking beauty feeds the soul.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31'Refreshed by my island hop and a night back on the mainland,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35'I'm being thoroughly charmed by Sorrento's Grand Hotel Victoria.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39'Its guest list reads like a Who's Who,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42'but the name that stands out for me is my hero,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46'the legendary opera tenor, Enrico Caruso.'
0:11:46 > 0:11:48OPERA SINGING
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Good morning, and welcome to the Caruso suite.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00It's a beautiful room, as you can imagine.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Very large bed, surprising,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04considering that the singer was actually quite small.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Oh! A piano, should you want a singsong.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11But this is the best. This is the best.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13The terrace.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18With this wonderful view of Naples and Vesuvius.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21OPERA SINGING
0:12:44 > 0:12:46I've rejoined the mainline at Salerno
0:12:46 > 0:12:49to continue my journey to the very southern extremity
0:12:49 > 0:12:51of the Italian peninsula.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56To the tip of the toe of the boot of Italy and then beyond.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07'As I head down the country, I'm beginning to see
0:13:07 > 0:13:09'how the south's rugged landscape
0:13:09 > 0:13:12'has shaped the character of its people.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18'Italy's south remains much poorer than the north.'
0:13:20 > 0:13:24High-speed trains in Italy haven't yet spread south from Naples.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29This one threads its way along the coast and through lots of tunnels.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30It's a pretty scenic route,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33but correspondingly, it takes quite a long time.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36But not quite as long as at the time of my Bradshaw's guide.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Then, the train from Naples to Villa San Giovanni,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43just outside Reggio Calabria, took nearly 13 hours.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Today, they've got it down to 4 hours and 15 minutes.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54With such a long haul, I'm taking a tip from the Edwardian traveller.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Come prepared to avoid hunger.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02- Hello.- Well, hello!
0:14:02 > 0:14:04- Hello.- Very pleased to meet you.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08I hope this isn't imposing on you, but I have bought myself some lunch.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10- OK.- And I didn't want to eat alone.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14- Oh, OK.- And I wondered if you'd like to join me.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Now, we've got some bread, we've got some lovely tomatoes.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Um... Ha-ha!
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Wine in a little mini carafe.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24- Ooo! Cheese, lovely!- Ooo!
0:14:24 > 0:14:25That's pecorino cheese.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27This is much nicer than the picnic we brought!
0:14:27 > 0:14:29LAUGHTER
0:14:29 > 0:14:32I think we're going to find it hard to eat the pecorino
0:14:32 > 0:14:35unless we open the wine.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36- Well met.- You, too.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37- Cheers!- Cheers!
0:14:37 > 0:14:40So, you like the food of Italy, evidently.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42It's one of the main reasons we've come.
0:14:42 > 0:14:43THEY LAUGH
0:14:43 > 0:14:49We went to a little place in Naples, we had an absolutely fabulous pizza.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53I had a jolly good pizza, as well. In fact, I helped to cook one.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- Oh, really?- Much more difficult than I imagined.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58But delicious, simple food, but very, very delicious.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01How have you found the trains, by the way?
0:15:01 > 0:15:03I don't think we've had any problems.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Did you come from Britain by air, or by train?
0:15:06 > 0:15:08By train from Glasgow.
0:15:08 > 0:15:09Fantastic! And now Naples, Sicily.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11And now Naples, Sicily, yes.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Have you any idea how many miles you'll have done by train?
0:15:15 > 0:15:19No. 1,000 or so, I suppose.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22My goodness, I thought I had a few train miles under my belt,
0:15:22 > 0:15:24but I can't compete with you.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26And look at the view now!
0:15:27 > 0:15:29This is the perfect Italian lunch, I think.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Well, actually I think it's the perfect lunch.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Well, thank you.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean
0:15:39 > 0:15:42and historically, the most interesting.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45It covers nearly 26,000 square kilometres
0:15:45 > 0:15:49and is crowned by another volcano, Mount Etna.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55The island is separated from the mainland by the Strait of Messina.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Edwardian travellers would have been in for a shock
0:15:58 > 0:16:01because their train would be swallowed
0:16:01 > 0:16:03into the belly of a large ferry.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07The first thing they do is to remove our intercity locomotive.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17'The ferry has operated here since 1899
0:16:17 > 0:16:19'and is exclusively for trains.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25'It can take up to 15 coaches, with the train being split in two.'
0:16:25 > 0:16:29This is something you used to be able to see in many parts of the world,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31including across the English Channel,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33loading a train onto a ferry.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37But now it's quite unusual and I'm delighted to see it.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47ALARM WAILS
0:16:47 > 0:16:49- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52MICHAEL SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:16:57 > 0:17:01He says, when the train comes off, it's even more of a great sight.
0:17:01 > 0:17:02HE SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:17:04 > 0:17:07He's going to allow me to push the button.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12We are now closing the bow door.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15You can see it coming down above me.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18And I'm doing that, just by holding that little key in position.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21It's quite alarming that we are actually sailing
0:17:21 > 0:17:24while the bow door is still coming down.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28And now we switch it all off and we're done.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30We've set sail.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Complete with our safe cargo of a train divided in two.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44'Messina was founded by Greeks in about 730 BC.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50'In terms of grandeur, it rivalled Sicily's biggest city, Palermo.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58'Having safely regained our tracks, normal surface is resumed.'
0:18:01 > 0:18:06It's been a very short run from the ferry to the centre of Messina.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Here we are, Messina Centrale.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18I wasn't expecting Messina to have such a contemporary, urban feel.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35This modernity is a clue to what happened here
0:18:35 > 0:18:37more than 100 years ago.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47To discover more, I'm meeting historian, John Dickie.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53- Hello, John. - Nice to meet you, Michael.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55Thank you. Um...
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Bradshaw's describes Messina as, "a once-prosperous town,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01"that, in the early morning of December 28th, 1908,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05"was ruined by an earthquake, followed immediately by a tidal wave
0:19:05 > 0:19:08"and later, by the outbreak of extensive fires.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11"The population of 168,000,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15"of whom 130,000 lost their lives."
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It was absolutely apocalyptic.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22Modern estimates reckon that perhaps 60,000 or 80,000 were killed,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25but it's still perhaps the most lethal seismic event
0:19:25 > 0:19:27in the Western world.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30And presumably, the whole city was flattened?
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Yeah, absolutely. 98% of the buildings
0:19:33 > 0:19:36are estimated to have been destroyed.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Virtually everything you can see in Messina today
0:19:39 > 0:19:41was rebuilt from scratch.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Including, therefore, this really delightful cathedral
0:19:44 > 0:19:46and its marvellous bell tower, its campanile.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Absolutely, the cathedral had even been destroyed once before,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52in the earthquake in 1783,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54so it's been rebuilt twice.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57What do we know about how the earthquake occurred?
0:19:57 > 0:20:00It happened at 5:21. That's when the clock stopped.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03Because of the time, most of the population was in bed
0:20:03 > 0:20:05and therefore, that much more vulnerable.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09And then, soon afterwards, there followed a tsunami,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13so it really was all of the power of nature unleashed.
0:20:13 > 0:20:14Now, of course, the island of Sicily
0:20:14 > 0:20:17is literally cut off from the Italian mainland.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Presumably, that problem was exacerbated by the earthquake.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Yeah, it essentially tore a hole in the fabric of communications.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Telegraph, railway tunnels collapsed.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31The first suspicion that something terrible had happened
0:20:31 > 0:20:36was simply the complete absence of news from this part of the world,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41and it was only when I think a torpedo boat made it down here
0:20:41 > 0:20:43from northern Calabria,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45that somebody was able to get on to land
0:20:45 > 0:20:47and find out what had actually happened here.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Italy, one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55sits on top of a major weak point in the Earth's crust,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58where tectonic friction can cause disaster.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04There was talk after the earthquake of abandoning Messina entirely,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06so badly was it damaged.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11But they did rebuild it, often at a higher level than it had been before.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15Perhaps two metres of ruins in various places lie below our feet
0:21:15 > 0:21:19and the local people say also the bodies of many of the victims.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26The Chiesa dei Catalani is an ancient medieval church
0:21:26 > 0:21:30and one of the oldest buildings in the city. It withstood the quake.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I can see from its walls how the new city of Messina
0:21:35 > 0:21:38stands a good two metres above the old.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44How does the city remember the terrible earthquake of 1908?
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Well, in terms of monuments and that kind of thing,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48there really is very, very little.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Messina seems to have forgotten about the earthquake
0:21:51 > 0:21:56or at least seems to not want to remember it in its physical fabric.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58How do you account for that?
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Well, apart from the huge number of people who were killed,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05after the earthquake, many, many people emigrated,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08a lot of them to the United States, and a new population was sucked in
0:22:08 > 0:22:11to Messina from the countryside, from across the straits,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14to work on the reconstruction
0:22:14 > 0:22:16and many of them perhaps didn't have
0:22:16 > 0:22:18a particularly strong identification with the city.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21If you ask the people of Messina today,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24many of them will say that the city has lost its memory,
0:22:24 > 0:22:25that it has no memory,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and the earthquake is often cited as the reason for that.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32And yet clearly when the Bradshaw's Guide was written,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35it was still remembered as a cataclysmic event.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Absolutely - it had been on the front pages of newspapers
0:22:38 > 0:22:39right around the world.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57While Messina was flattened,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01remarkably, about 50km along the coast,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04the hilltop town of Taormina survived.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Taormina is arrestingly magnificent,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17mixing a Greek temple and theatre,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Norman churches and Baroque palaces.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29Its architecture, Mount Etna, the bays, beaches and the mild climate
0:23:29 > 0:23:33attracted flocks of artists and writers in the 19th century.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Una granita di limone, per favore.
0:23:40 > 0:23:41Grazie.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Taormina also captivated a genteel Englishwoman,
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Florence Trevelyan,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55who moved here in 1890 and married a man who later became mayor.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Ever since, the people of Taormina
0:23:57 > 0:24:00have revelled in rumours about her,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03whispering that a dalliance with the Prince of Wales
0:24:03 > 0:24:05had caused her to flee Britain.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09A well-used expression for the English in Italy
0:24:09 > 0:24:12was "matti Inglesi", meaning "crazy English"
0:24:12 > 0:24:16and Florence must have seemed slightly eccentric,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19with the determination of her nationality and gender
0:24:19 > 0:24:22creating a garden paradise.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Today, Constantino Castello, her distant relative,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29lives in Florence's nearby home.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Lovely to see you, thank you.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Lovely house, Dino.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Tell me, who was Lady Florence Trevelyan?
0:24:41 > 0:24:48Lady Florence Trevelyan was the wife of the uncle of my grandfather.
0:24:48 > 0:24:55She came to Taormina after two years holidaying all the world.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59People of Taormina, the older people, said,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01but I don't know,
0:25:01 > 0:25:06that she was obliged to leave England,
0:25:06 > 0:25:11because she was very good friends with Prince Edward.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15With nothing to tie her to England and both her parents dead,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Florence embraced the role of Taormina's first lady.
0:25:19 > 0:25:26When Taormina was just a little city of fishermen,
0:25:26 > 0:25:27just fishermen,
0:25:27 > 0:25:34every king, every artist of Europe, of the Belle Epoque,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37they came to Taormina at this time.
0:25:40 > 0:25:47Although Florence died in 1907, the house still evokes her tenure.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50She was three years old with the dogs.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52This was in England.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- She was an animal lover, even as a child.- Yeah.- That's lovely.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00- Is that her family album?- Yeah.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03- It begins with a picture of Queen Victoria.- Yep.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06And then we have a picture of Edward VII.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10- And then we have a picture of Florence at 16 years old.- Yep.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Her lasting legacy is the garden, which now belongs to the town
0:26:17 > 0:26:19and is open to the public.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26Down in the garden she had a meeting with King Edward...
0:26:26 > 0:26:29HE SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:26:29 > 0:26:31- 1906.- Yeah.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39Florence died of pneumonia not long after, aged only 54.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46So, Dino, this is really quite a moving story -
0:26:46 > 0:26:49an English aristocratic lady, exiled in Taormina,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53who leaves her mark on the city in the form of a lovely garden.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Exactly.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00I can vouch that Taormina is inspirational.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02I've been drawn back time and again,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05perhaps to take my seat in the Greek theatre,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07more than 2,000 years old,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11to witness the love-and-death melodramas of opera,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14which seem petty beneath Mount Etna,
0:27:14 > 0:27:16massive and indifferent.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21A century ago, the serious-minded British tourist
0:27:21 > 0:27:24interested in antiquities, came to Italy,
0:27:24 > 0:27:26which despite its recent unification,
0:27:26 > 0:27:31seemed more like a collection of regions than a nation.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34My Bradshaw's has brought me south past Vesuvius,
0:27:34 > 0:27:39past the earthquake-devastated city of Messina and now to Taormina,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41in the shadow of Mount Etna.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45And I reflect that for all the achievements of human kind,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48from the Greeks and Romans onwards,
0:27:48 > 0:27:53we remain at the mercy of the powerful forces of nature.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Next time, I discover how not to do a polonaise...
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Don't know what happened there.
0:28:18 > 0:28:24and land my acting debut in Poland's respected film industry.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29(This could be my big breakthrough.)