Alex Polizzi's Italian Islands

The hotelier delves further into her heritage by exploring the culture, cuisine and history of the country's most beautiful islands. She begins her tour with a visit to Sardinia, hearing the tales of kidnappings and bandits that have blighted the island's reputation in the past, finding out why there are more centenarians here than anywhere else and meeting a woman who claims to be the last in the world to weave precious sea silk.

Alex continues her tour with a visit to the smaller islands of southern Italy. She starts out on Capri, which, with its beauty, glamour and history, has been a celebrated holiday destination since Roman times. She enjoys its signature style, which she claims has never gone out of fashion. On Ischia, she scales the rocky heights of the medieval Aragonese Castle, before hopping across to the remote Aeolian island of Salina, where she samples the famous Malvasia wine. Finally she travels to Filicudi, an island that holds a special place in her heart.

Alex continues her tour with a visit to the north of Sicily, revealing a different side to the largest island in the Mediterranean. She discovers overwhelming opulence at a palace in Palermo, meets an inspirational mayor and viewing an army of mummified monks who are giving scientists new insights into island life in the past. She also learns how the Mafia have influenced Sicilian life for decades from a group of locals determined to bring about change.

Alex is still on Sicily as she concludes her odyssey, travelling to the south to explore the island's diverse beauty and fascinating history, from the serenity of the baroque town of Ragusa to the breathtaking Turkish Steps cascading down to the sea. She also experiences the hidden wonder of one of the world's two subterranean cathedrals, located hundreds of metres below sea level in a salt mine, drops in on a family friend on the mysterious island of Pantelleria, and enjoys a fiesta in the idyllic fishing village of San Vito.