​A visit to see friends in Sicily was an offer I couldn’t refuse - Fiona Duff

​It seems that in the past couple of years so many people I know have visited Sicily. ​The lure of sun and delicious food is always hard to resist, especially when you live in Scotland - that's the weather I am talking about, as there's plenty of good food in Scotland these days.

Vineyards on Mount Etna, Sicily

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and thanks to its location at the southern most point of Italy, it has always been the first port of call with seafarers from around the world.

Sicily is well known for its Greek temples, Mediterranean beaches, the Baroque architectural style and rich culinary culture.

As well as having a rich culinary legacy, Sicily is also exceptionally well known and respected for its wine production. In fact, Sicily has taken the lead, ahead of Tuscany and Piemonte, to be the largest wine producing region in Italy with 98,000 hectares of vineyards spanning the breadth of its ashy, volcanic terrain, clay and limestone.

Of course, the other thing is the television coverage that the island has been getting.

We are longtime fans of Inspector Montalbano, which you can probably still catch on BBC.

Although novelist Andrea Camilleri set his books in Agrigento, much of the series is filmed in Ragusa. The exteriors of la Mànnara were filmed at Fornace Penna in Sampieri. Montalbano's offices are in Scicli,

Recently it's been hard not to see programmes set on Sicily. There was the absolute glamour of White Lotus (we are certainly not staying at the same hotel) which might have been commissioned by the local tourist board. Apart from the floating dead body, that is.

Then there was Amanda Holden and Alan Carr renovating a couple of properties that cost a euro each.

I thought that this was my guilty pleasure, watched after the husband had gone to bed, until I found out that virtually else had become somewhat obsessed as well.

Finally there was Anton du Beke and one of the dancing blokes from Strictly tootling about in a Fiat 500.

No doubt there have been some cookery programmes which I have missed.

Anyway, we got here and have travelled around with a couple of friends.

Luckily one of them speaks the lingo, so I don't have to talk loudly while doing a sort of international charades in order to be understood.

Anyway, some pasta has arrived so I had better go before we head off to the wine tasting vineyards of Mount Etna and a plucky little bottle of Carricante.