7 OCTOBER 1955, Page 7

A FRIEND who has been in Sicily tells me that

there has been a German invasion there this summer. So strong has it been that the Sicilians assume that every non-Italian is a German. My friend was having dinner with three other Englishmen in Taormina and ordered some vitello. One mouthful of it was enough to convince them that the food was not vitello but cavallo. There was an angry scene with the waiter, who eventu- ally consented to question the cook about the matter. He returned full of apologies and readily agreed that the food was cavallo. 'The cook,' he explained, 'thought you were Germans.'