âThe island offers a peerless perspective on spans of time, flavours of life and the complex relationships between peoples and place,â says Clare on this sultry Sicilian trip. âThough I have lived in Palermo, the west leads to new territories, to secrets, fugitives, miracles and eccentricities.â He starts in Mazara del Vallo, âthe most languid edge of Europeâ, closer to Africa than Italy, and continues through ruins of Ancient Greek cities and plates of spaghetti con ricci (sea urchins) overlooking water âthe colour of peacocksâ. All the while time bends slowly from the great civilisations that once stood here and spectres of Lampedusaâs The Leopard to Sicilyâs complex modern soul.