Cultivating the coastal slopes and inner hills of Liguria has never been easy.

But to think that the colossal earthquake of the 28th December 1908 in far off Sicily put paid to the region's lemon growers seems to have been extremely unfortunate. Yet it happened.

The aftermath of the quake saw the government of the day pass a series of motions in favour of relaunching the agriculture of the province of Messina.

At a stroke, the Ligurian lemon orchards were out of business and have effectively been so ever since.

It was all due to Angelo Majorana Calatabiana, a rich land owner in Sicily and brother of the agricultural minister.

As he was also the 'Ministro del Tesoro', or 'Treasury Minister' the family well and truly stitched Liguria up.

The Sicilian farmers were able to work with huge subsidies and priced many producers out of business. Liguria being a notable victim.