For his latest jaunt the former Tory minister swaps his colourful linen jackets for a rather less fetching gilet to explore the largest island in the Mediterranean, which at various times in its history has been under Greek, Roman, Arab and Norman rule. Portillo spends a long weekend in its capital, Palermo, where he revels in what he calls its “exotic disorder” of street cafes, markets and crumbling buildings. As ever, he throws himself into local life, eating a spleen sandwich (an echo of the island’s once thriving Jewish community) and helping coffee roasters to blend their beans and a duchess to prepare lunch at the palazzo where her late father-in-law, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, finished his seminal Sicilian novel Il Gattopardo (The Leopard).
But as well having good-natured banter with locals, Portillo addresses the less tourist-friendly history of the island – its long-standing link to the Mafia which, despite valiant efforts by residents and politicians, still affects life today – before he checks out the transformation of a crumbling 19th-century palazzo. He’s clearly having fun: “This is going to be edgy but it’s going to make us feel alive,” he says. His enthusiasm is infectious.
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