Piero d’Impelli stood at the mouth of the tunnel that led down into the sulphur mine. His right foot rested on top of the knee-high boulder that stood at the edge of the opening, and his notebook was balanced on his raised knee. Scribbling quickly with the lead pencil in his hand, the mine manager was keeping count of the cars of sulphur that were pushed out of the mine by the men, and an approximation of how full each car was.
The d’Impelli family had been in the mining business for three generations. His grandfather, Luigi d’Impelli had discovered this mine near Racalmuto while prospecting north of Agrigento. He was only twenty years old at the time and – in the 1780s – Sicily was still experiencing occasional battles between the British and the Bourbon family from France for dominion o
