Sicily: Wonder of the Mediterranean

Recently seen on TV with Alexander Armstrong in Italy's Invisible Cities, historian Dr Michael Scott flies solo for this two-parter going beyond the Mafia stereotyping of the Mediterranean's biggest island

Recently seen on TV with Alexander Armstrong in Italy’s Invisible Cities, historian Dr Michael Scott flies solo for this two-parter going beyond the Mafia stereotyping of the Mediterranean's biggest island.

He begins on the summit of Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, to tell the story of how the island was thought to be a land of gods and monsters by the Greeks, who eventually put their fears away and colonised Sicily, planting vines and building cities that attracted the attention of Carthage, Rome, the Barbarians and the Byzantines.

It's a bloody story, though the pretty pictures of the glorious isle are a real sweetener.