Episode One - Moving to Milo

For centuries, Mount Etna has sent lava to engulf the towns and villages, terraced fields, orchards and vineyards on its slopes. But it still remains home to a quarter of Sicily’s population.

In her compelling new book, Helena Attlee combines travel writing with history, mythology, geology, gastronomy and horticulture to give a unique account of life in the shadow of the volcano the locals call ‘La Signora’, ‘Mamma’, or even ‘Mamma Grande’ - the dodgy big mamma who might nurture her people tenderly for years and then suddenly dish out a brutal punishment.

Helena becomes fascinated by the people who live on Etna and how they are able to accommodate the vast forces of such a turbulent landscape, exploring not only what the volcano takes away from them, but the gifts she gives them too.

In this first episode she begins to explore the austere lava landscape around her new home.

Helena Attlee is the Sunday Times best-selling author of The Land Where Lemons Grow and Lev’s Violin.

Reader: Juliet Aubrey (Middlemarch, Primeval, Professor T, All Creatures Great and Small)
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Sara Davies
Production Hub Co-ordinator: Dawn Williams
Music and Sound: Matt Bainbridge
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4