One Man Land Reform

On the western slope of Mount Etna, close by the village of Bronte, lies the Duchy of Bronte--a bit of England on Sicilian soil. Grateful King Ferdinand of Naples and Sicily presented the 17,000-acre estate and its great baroque castle to Horatio, Lord Nelson and made him Duke of Bronte. It was the King's way of thanking Britain's mighty sea hero for saving the Neapolitan monarchy from the French in 1799.

The duchy passed on to Nelson's heirs; in 1937, it fell to the present modest and serious viscount, Rowland Arthur Herbert Nelson Hood, descended from the families of three British naval greats--Nelson, Hood and Hood's brother, Lord Bridport. A seaman like his ancestors, the present Lord Bridport went to the naval training college at Dartmouth, was a midshipman aboard H.M.S. Nelson for three years, fought as a lieutenant commander in World War II. Mussolini confiscated his duchy during the war, but Lord Bridport got it back and returned to it in 1946.

Living well off its rich 5,000 acres of timber, its 3,000 in grapes and pears, its 8,000 in olive and almond groves, with 5,000 peasants to tend them. Lord Bridport saw and felt the yearning for change that began sweeping through the peasantry of Italy. The Sicilian Parliament began talking of a big land reform program. But while the Parliament only talked, Lord Bridport decided to act for himself.

Standing before the ancient battlements of his castle, the Duke of Bronte announced to a cheering throng that he was parceling out 4,500 acres of Bronte to 650 peasant families on easy-to-pay-installment plans or cheap 99-year leases. The Archbishop of Catania came down to give the church's blessing to the transfer. The local carabinieri staged a joyful military drill. The viscount, a tall, blue-eyed man of 41, happily signed the necessary papers. "This is a reward for the honest and solid work of those who for years have given their best," he said. "Simply an act of humanity."

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