Since publication, there have been many attempts to sweep Constance Chatterley and Oliver Mellors’ illicit frolics away from the sweetness and light of the demure British public. It seems only fitting therefore that D.H Lawrence’s 1928 novel, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” should have found its voice in Sicily. Lawrence once described Sicily’s Taormina as giving him that “good on-the brink feeling”. Whether it was the image of Italy’s boot kicking this small landmass into the Mediterranean sea or the unfamiliar heat rising from the nearby volcano, it was this sense of unease and edginess which spurred Lawrence on to find inspiration in an anonymous but now immortalised lady who lived in the village at the time of his stay. “Via David Lawrence” curves through Taormina, and meets a weather beaten plaque which marks the spot from which the writer looked down over the village. Now a Bed and Breakfast, Etna’s smoke twirls and weaves around the fact and fiction of the author’s life. Spend too long in the heat and you may glimpse of the snake which appeared to Lawrence in the now overgrown trough. Refresh yourself in the summer rain, and an olive grove or two may begin to rustle…

Written by  Sybilla Harvey.

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