What do England's greatest sea hero, cuttlefish, a Cornishman and railways have in connection with a tiny fishing port in Sicily?

Delegates at a conference held at the Villa St Andrea, Taormina in Sicily in 1979 were presented with this unusual cook book. Printed on recycled paper - well before recycling became fashionable - the book contains recipes, many fish based, unique to Sicily......
each one written first in Sicilian......
then Italian....

followed by an English translation - however, those of you with a limited knowledge of Italian (rather than Sicilian) may just spot a significant error in this recipe for squid and cuttlefish twixt the original and the English version!

Either way, the recipe is a delicious way of preparing the these delicate creatures at this time of year when they are in abundance (when the boats can get to sea).

Apart from the fact that cuttles are also fished by boats from the tiny port of Taormina the links don't stop there. Amongst many notable Englishmen living was Lord Bridport, the Duke of Bronte who entertained others like DH Lawrence. The Villa St Andrea was once owned by a Cornishman whose family came from Zennor then Ludgvan near Penzance. The Trewhella family, later railway engineer and mine owner Robert Trewhella lived in the villa, which was much later (in the 1950s) converted to the luxury hotel it is today. Another English connection with the port was the Nelson family - use Google translation for this page.

The story of the villa hotel has an incredibly tragic element. As with many parts of Sicily the coastline consists of sheer cliffs with tiny ports at the foot of these cliffs. The grounds of the villa above Taormina end at a steep cliff edge - access to the port itself is by funicular railway built by Robert Trewhella. On the 5th of April 1959 the wife of Alfred Percy Trewhella (search on the page), Gertrude Deidamia Sarauw stepped out of the way of a car in the villa grounds and fell, as she did so, her husband Alfred tried to catch hold of her and, tragically, the two of them fell to their deaths.

Maybe someone can help with the Trewhella family history being researched here by Harry Manley.