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Recently
I noticed this heading in an issue of “Country Life” and read on. It was
about Nelson's Bronte estate in Sicily. Lady Hamilton apparently claimed
that it was at her instigation that King Ferdinand of' Naples granted this
estate to Nelson, after he had rescued the royal family when Naples was in a
revolutionary state and taken them to Sici1y and safety. Thereafter Ne1son
often signed himself “Nelson and Bronte” - even to his wife!
When
Ke1son and the Hamiltons set up house in Merton, he told Emma to buy good
quality furniture because “all will probably go to Bronte one of
these days”. His brother William inherited the estate and when he died in
1835 it went to his daughter Charlotte, Viscountess Bridport, but having
been to view her new property, she did not like it at a11 and swore never to
return there.
However, her descendents renovated the Castello and it became a comfortable
country house, much used by the family in the 1920s, and it was also quite a
literary centre. It was occupied by the Germans in the Second World War.
After the War, social changes in
Sicily
led to the estate finally being sold to the authorities. Although there were
local difficulties, warm relationships continued between the English and the
Sicilians, as they had done in earlier centuries through the Marsala wine
trade.
The
people of' Bronte therefore decided to restore Castella Nelson, thus
creating a memorial to Nelson, which can now be visited. There are few items
connected with Ne1son remaining, the main one being the decanter and glasses
said to have been used by him the night before the Battle of Trafalgar.
The
great barn is now a conference centre and there are further plans to
establish a lava museum - this would surely have delighted Sir William
Hamilton! The gardens are well maintained in a truly English style,
overlooked by Etna in the distance.
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