BEDSORES

Augusta is an oil port on the southeastern coast of Sicily, in close proximity to Northern Africa. Oil and gas arrive here from across the Mediterranean where they are refined for the European market. It was in the 1950s that American companies built these facilities, mainly on the ruins of Megara Hyblaea, an ancient settlement of the Greeks, when this was part of Magna Graecia. Famines and overcrowding had driven them from their home and had led them to Sicily. The port is shared, not coincidentally, with a large naval base. During the pandemic, when the travel industry was on pause, many cruise ships were kept here in the harbour. This is almost an ethnographic study with no humans in it.