An offer you can't refuse

Sicily in autumn is a dramatic setting for LUCY WILLIAMSON who visits Mount Etna and locations from The Godfather and gets a taste for local wine

- LUCY WILLIAMSON

Mount Etna in Sicily is often described as “Europe's most dangerous volcano”. The truth is far less frightening. Yes, it’s active, yes, it’s enormous, but staying at its foot felt more like a wine retreat than a survival mission.

At 11,165ft, it's the highest and most active volcano in Europe, erupting multiple times each year. Yet, thanks to constant low-level blasts that release pressure gradually, it's monitored by scientists who can predict its behaviour.

The activity comes from the slow collision of the African and Eurasian plates deep beneath the earth, making Sicily not only a cultural melting pot but a geological one too.

And, as I discovered, it’s a spectacular place for a holiday, from volcanic wines to villages with a famous cinematic history.

HILLTOP HOLLYWOOD VILLAGES

My base was the Il Picciolo Etna Golf Resort and Spa, tucked among vineyards and lava-sculpted hillsides. It proved ideal for visiting some of Sicily's most beautiful towns, including one that’s a pilgrimage site for film fans.

That village is Savoca, perched high in the hills and frozen in time since 1972, when Francis Ford Coppola chose it as a location for The Godfather. I made my way to Bar Vitelli, the very terrace where Michael Corleone asked Apollonia' father for permission to court her.