The Romans wrote the history, or at least the myths. But long before Romulus murdered Remus, the Mediterranean – the Great Sea – was the principal conduit of civilisation. The Greeks spread their wings across the wine-dark seas, to the extent that even later Romans accepted that much of southern Italy was actually Magna Graecia. The Greek settlements included the city of Sybaris. Although it was destroyed around 2,500 years ago, it has passed into the language. Sybaritic – the very word is expressive – denotes ease and pleasure, the beauties of nature amid the adornments of art and architecture: champagne and dancing girls.

Sybaris is in Calabria, the toe of Italy. In more recent times, history has not been kind to the region. David Gilmour’s superb work, In Pursuit of Italy, helps to explain why. The Risorgimento was not good for the south: too strong a currency. Moreover, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was not nearly as bad a regime as Gladstone and many others believed, while the Piedmontese rulers earned a reputation for beneficence which they were far from deserving. This did not prevent the northerners from patronising their fellow countrymen, then and now. One will be assured that ‘Dopo Roma, Africa’ – or even ‘Dopo Firenze, Africa’. But Calabria holds many delights. Its inhabitants know how to eat and drink. Their cuisine makes the region’s ingredients sing, and they are producing better and better wine.

The evidence for this is easy to come by, in a modest-looking establishment, Il Vicolo, in an alley by St. James’s Street. It had long been a small piece of Calabria – of Sybaris, indeed – magically transported to London. But a couple of years ago, everything was under threat. Lockdown was imminent and the restaurant would have to move. Worst of all, the admirable proprietor, Giacomo, was not well. He brushed aside talk of ailments, dubiously. Shortly afterwards, his heart failed. Would this be the end?

Absolutely not. He had three delightful daughters, Bianca, Chiara and Francesca, who had been brought up to appreciate the culinary delights of their native region. It might be excessively romantic to trace a tradition back to Sybaris. After all, Greek cookery rarely amounted to much. But perhaps it was the Italians who taught them how, as they later instructed the French – and what is wrong with romance? Anyway, the three sisters took over. There is one point worthy of note. One might have thought that Italian restaurant life – how to put this tactfully? – would not be a substitute for a health farm. Yet these three float among their tables. They could easily be dancing girls, if they so chose.

The sisters have also identified a house called Librandi, which is making better and better wine. It has only been in business for 70 years, but has already planted roots deep in Calabrian soil. The house’s Efeso Val di Neto Bianco was excellent, both as an aperitif and with fish. It also stood up to a pasta with black truffles, which stayed on the taste buds. The Efeso refers to Ephesus. As the Greeks are also producing better and better wine, it must be time for a tasting contest, if not quite a judgment of Paris. Librandi also produces a Duca Sanfelice Ciro Classico 2020, a serious red wine which will keep. In general, one feels that it is a work in progress, but with a deserved stress on the ‘progress’.

Although the girls offer a good range of northern Italian bottles, they plan to extend their list of southern wines. Le Gavroche, alas closing, has always been the real French Embassy just as Boisdale performs the same role for Scotland. Il Vicolo can become the Calabrian Embassy, with food and wine to exemplify that province’s charms.