Page "Ferdinandea" Paragraph 21

The marble plaque, weighing, was inscribed “ This piece of land, once Ferdinandea, belonged and shall always belong to the Sicilian people.

" The Prince told cheering locals: “ It will always be Sicilian .” But within six months it had been fractured into 12 pieces, mostly likely by fishing gear but possibly by vandalism.

Professor Enzo Boschi, from the Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome, told BBC News Online, in November 2002: We have observed minor seismic activity, gas emissions but this is quite normal.

He put the time of resurfacing at a couple of weeks or months.

However, in an interview with Time magazine, Boris Behncke, a German researcher at the University of Catania's department of geological sciences in Sicily, said: Geologically speaking, it's a possibility, But geology has a very long time scale ... We really should not be too worried.

Despite showing signs in both 2000 and 2002, the seismicity did not lead to volcanic eruptions and as of 2006 Ferdinandea's summit remains about below sea level.

Should it reappear, Federico Eichberg, an international relations expert based in Rome, believes it would do so within Italian territorial waters — and in all probability would be formally claimed by Italy.

Eichberg does not expect that a renewed international rumpus would arise, noting: “ If it's just a little island, we're not going to have a big fight over it .” Additionally, the island would not have the same strategic importance today that it had in the summer of 1831.

A diplomatic disagreement would be highly improbable, and the island would likely belong to Italy.

A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, however, kept all options open.

The British government “ would look at this if and when any island were to emerge ,” she said, adding: “ We don't want to make waves now.