Duke’s Sicilian Story

On the 20th October 2023, on her favourite beach in Giardini Naxos, we had to make the most heartbreaking decision of our life to send our precious furbaby Daisy across rainbow bridge. Daisy had been diagnosed with a rare nerve sheath tumour ten months earlier, we truly believe that Daisy chose to gain her angel wings on her happy island and truly believe that she chose a new four legged companion for us to help heal our broken hearts.

As Daisy gained her angel wings in Sicily a six month old black Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy cross Labrador boy was surrendered to London Borough of Tower Hamlets homeless dog pound.

His name was Duke !!!!

Daisy’s sign …

Thereafter Duke came into the care of Ira at All Dogs Matter the same London charity who had rescued Daisy in Camden Town in London nearly thirteen years earlier after being found as a stray at eight weeks old. Daisy was one of Ira’s first rescue puppies.

Ira explained that Duke was not coping very well and was distressed in the council pound and that she was hoping to get him a space in the All Dogs Matter kennels where he would be loved and cared for but ideally he needed a loving foster home and so two weeks later, after losing our little girl Daisy, we made the decision to cut short our autumn trip in Sicily and drive back to London to foster this sad little east end London boy.

When at home in Sicily I would always pick a bright pink flower from a bougainvillea bush near Daisy’s favourite beach and tuck it into her collar. The day after we arrived back home in London as we found ourselves parked up outside the kennels for All Dogs Matter in Essex a pink bougainvillea flower fell on our window screen out of nowhere.

It was a sign from Daisy …

As soon as Duke was brought out of his kennel by fab kennel manager Jenny he jumped into Mr K’s arms and began to hug him, it was love at first sight as was the same when we first met Daisy and an hour later Duke was in the car with us going to his new foster home. As soon as he arrived home he made himself part of the family straight away.

Of course it was a “foster fail” and three weeks later we officially adopted him.

We could never replace Daisy because she was so unique and loved by many but we could expand our broken hearts to make more space for a little boy in desperate need of a new loving home.

We do not know too much about his background but it was thought that his previous owner had a mental health issue and could not care for him as much as he needed and so a family member took him away for his own welfare. We believe that he was not mistreated and was very much loved and that somewhere someone was missing him very much and vice versa. Duke was also suffering from a broken heart like us.

Il Duca di Naxos …

We decided to keep this little boys name as Duke for a couple of reasons, one because the dog in the popular 1980’s comedy series “Only Fools and Horses” was called “Duke”, two because of the character “Daisy Duke” in the TV series “The Dukes of Hazard” and three because one of our best friends Louis always used to say to Daisy as he would walk into our local pub in London “Hello my little Daisy Duke”. Funnily not long after we adopted our new furbaby the series “The Gentlemen” aired on Netflix starring Theo James who also starred in The White Lotus Season Two, which was filmed in Sicily, his character in The Gentlemen is often referred to as “The Duke” and so when other characters in the series would say “You better speak to the Duke” our new little rescue pup would hear his name and look at the TV.

Another reason we liked the name Duke was because in Italian it translates to Duca and as Daisy was given the nickname the Queen of Taormina by many local people, Duke could be known as the Duca di Naxos (the Duke of Giardini Naxos).

When we brought Duke home it became apparent that he was probably a house dog and that he was not walked on a lead outdoors and that he had probably lived somewhere with a garden as he could play fetch beautifully. Duke did not know how to street walk on a lead and instead walked like he was crawling or hopping like a frog but he was a clever boy and soon learned to walk perfectly on a short lead and with a long line in the park. Training is still in progress.

Of course what Duke did not know was that he did not have just one new home he would also have a second home in Sicily, a place that his adopted big sister Daisy adored but would Duke love it too?

Daisy was a meat eater and enjoyed chicken and beef to eat but Duke is a fish lover and enjoys to eat white fish and sardines so Sicily would be the perfect place for his palate.

Duke’s First Road Trip …

At the end of April this year Duke followed in Daisy’s paw prints and embarked on his first road trip to his second home in Giardini Naxos. We was not too sure as an almost one year high energy pup how he would be on the road trip, Daisy was eight months old on her first trip but had lived with us from just eight weeks old.

Because of Brexit we had to first get a EU Animal Health Certificate from our vet in UK. Daisy did have a EU Pet Passport but sadly the scheme was abolished after Brexit and the new EU AHC was introduced which is a ten page document that is more like exporting cattle than taking a precious family pet on holiday.

Packing up our car had bittersweet emotions as Daisy would know as soon as I would start packing that she would be going on her road trip to Sicily and she would sit and watch the car being loaded and that meant to her that the beach and lots of fun beckoned.

Day one of the road trip meant heading to the pet reception centre at the Eurotunnel in Folkestone to board Le Shuttle to Calais then onwards for one night in Dijon in France then heading off the next day through the French and Italian Alps, through the Mont Blanc Tunnel down to Genova to board our twenty hour dog friendly ferry to Palermo.

Duke loved the road trip, apart from being scared of the many wind turbines that are scattered across Northern France either side of the motorways, and he slept in the back of the car for most of the journey. He loved meeting the owners of our hotel in Dijon, who Daisy loved, who greeted him with a new tennis ball. After visiting Daisy’s favourite bar and a good nights sleep the next day we headed off towards Genova. He enjoyed the ferry and spent most of the time sleeping in his dog friendly cabin and loved going up to the top deck dog zone to socialise with all the other four legged passengers heading for Sicily. After disembarking the ferry at the Port of Palermo the final leg of his journey was a two and a half hour drive to his new second home in Giardini Naxos.

Traditionally on arrival back in our Sicilian home Daisy would run around the house and balcony to make sure everything was still the same and where it should be then head up to our roof terrace for a game of ball even though it would be nearly midnight. Duke followed in his adopted big sisters paw prints and eagerly explored his new Sicilian home and roof terrace then after a tin of sardines he headed off to bed ready for new adventures and to meet Daisy’s favourite people who were waiting to meet the new ‘Duca di Naxos’.

First Day at the Beach …

Usually on our first morning back home in Sicily I always knew that my friends back in UK and all my lovely Blog followers would be hotly awaiting the all important first day at the beach shot with Daisy’s big happy staffy smile. Daisy was very photogenic and would love to pose for a photograph but our new little boy is a bit shy in front of the camera and it is hard to get him to look directly at it and it took a while to get that all important beach smile. Daisy’s favourite beach is located in front of La Cambusa Restaurant and was used as a filming location for the guest arrival scene in The White Lotus, it would end up looking like a construction site with the amount of holes she would dig. Being half Labrador, Duke loves water and on his first morning he plunged straight into the sea, unfortunately he got over excited and swallowed too much seawater and ended up vomiting in the car on the way back missing out on our drive back home along the seafront that Daisy used to enjoy with her head out the car window.

Rocks and Lizards …

After living with us for six months we soon learned that Duke was a typical little boy and loves exploring and discovering new things. We had already found out that he had a passion for rocks and large stones on a trip to our families apartment in Cowes on the Isle of Wight so we knew that the perfect beach for him would probably be Spiaggia San Marco about a fifteen minute drive south of Giardini Naxos which is located in front of the walls of the beautiful Hotel Castello San Marco, a place that was very special in Daisy’s heart. Spiaggia San Marco has a long pebbly beach framed by a wooded area abundant with fragrant eucalyptus trees, it is the perfect spot for finding rocks and lizard hunting in the woods. Duke’s game of finding rocks involved putting his whole head in the sea choosing a dark coloured one then picking it up in his mouth and placing it safe on the beach then back to the sea to find another rock that he felt was in need of saving.

Daisy only used to have two walks a day, morning and evening but Duke likes to have a lunchtime walk and so we started to take him after lunch every day for a walk up the hill at the front of our house which leads into the countryside. This is somewhere Daisy would never walk as she would not walk anywhere that did not involve socialising or bars and restaurants. This lovely walk is where Duke discovered that lizard hunting was the most fun thing he has ever experienced and so his obsession with lizards began by chasing them along the road into holes in stone walls and into olive groves.

Mount Etna …

As a little boy obsessed with big rocks and lizards Mount Etna would be a big adventure for him and so we decided to take him to the northern side of Etna to Piano Provenzana for a volcanic dog walk. To say that Duke enjoyed his adventure is an understatement and he enjoyed climbing over the big volcanic black rocks from the lava flow of the 2002 eruption discovering ski chalets that were destroyed by the lava and chasing butterflies and of course lizard hunting. He enjoyed a lot of fuss from tourists hiking with alpine guides and the drivers of the big off road buses honked their horns and waved at him as they drove past with their passengers up to the higher craters of the volcano.

Gole Alcantara

One of Daisy’s favourite places to visit was Gole Alcantara a botanical and geological park in the gorgeous Alcantara Valley not too far from home. I can remember one time after a walk along the nature trail her sinking into the icy cold waters of the river like a hippopotamus to cool off much to the amusement of all the tourists. Duke amused the tourists on his visit another way. After meeting Za Za Mike the lizard mascot of the park and walking the trail visiting the parks dinosaur models (he loves playing a dinosaur game, don’t ask!) we took the lift down to the river where he fell in love with a giant rock on the river bed. Now as you now know when Duke finds a rock he loves he has rescue it and bring it to safety, so he drew in quite a crowd to watch him. After rescuing several rocks a soaking wet Duke had to wrapped up in a beach towel and carried back to the car as he did not want to go home.

Taormina and Castelmola …

It was very hard for us to visit some places that were very special for Daisy and one of those places is Bar Vitelli in Savoca where, as some of you might already know, was used as the filming location for the wedding proposal of Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part I. She loved it there. We could not face going there on this trip and so we took Duke to a place that Daisy was not overly keen on due to the amount of stairs and as our new baby boy loves climbing we decided to take him for breakfast at Bar Turrisi in Castelmola, the hilltop hamlet high above Taormina. Bar Turrisi opened in 1947 and is known as Italy’s penis bar as there are antique phallic symbols of all sizes everywhere you turn from wooden ornaments, ceramics, the end of the banisters, the end of the armchairs, the taps and mirror in the toilets and even the menu is penis shaped. In any case the food and hospitality is amazing and their almond wine is the best plus the views from the top terrace are breathtaking. Duke enjoyed climbing the many stairs and seemed unfazed by the decor but enjoyed rolling over and displaying his own mister bits to some amused tourists from a cruise ship on a shore excursion.

Daisy loved Taormina and there was a particular itinerary she would enjoy on a visit hence why she was nicknamed The Queen of Taormina. Whilst Daisy would stomp along Corso Umberto on his first visit Duke found Taormina a lot of fun because there is many steps that lead up and down from the main Corso which looked fun to explore and climb and of course the Public Gardens were the perfect spot for lizard hunting.

Meeting Daisy’s Guardian Angel …

When Daisy gained her angel wings our wonderful Sicilian vet who helped her cross rainbow bridge, referred us to a company called L’Ultima Cucciola which translates to “The Final Cuddle”, one hour later we arrived at their office in Giarre in a heartbroken and sobbing state and it was here that we met the guardian angel who is Grazia Messina. Grazia took care of us and helped us plan a private funeral for Daisy so that we could take her ashes back to London. We have remained friends ever since, even after she had gone Daisy was still finding new friends for us. When we heard about Duke needing a foster home Grazia was one of the first people I told and so when we officially adopted him we made a promise that we would bring him to meet her. It was love at first for both of them and Duke loved the new squeaky toy from Grazia that was all wrapped up for him to open on arrival.

A Volcanic Picnic …

An invite to a picnic in Sicily is always an offer you can’t refuse, can you imagine all the lovely food? So when our lovely English friend Norma told us that her granddaughter wanted to celebrate her 16th birthday by having a picnic in the pine forests of Mount Etna and wanted to invite us and Duke we were very happy. From the Etna town of Linguaglossa, the gateway to Etna Nord where Duke enjoyed his first volcanic dog walk, we drove up the volcanic slopes along the Mareneve Road, Mare translates to sea and Neve is snow, which runs through the Ragabo forest. The Ragabo forest is the highest pine forest in Sicily and an area of outstanding beauty and a perfect spot for a picnic. Duke couldn’t believe his eyes to see an Etna cow out the car window sitting by the side of the road eating greenery. On arrival at the picnic site he met the families dog Maya. We ate a lovely abundance of Sicilian meats and cheeses, parmigiana melazane, tuna sandwiches and yummy handmade sweet pastries. After our picnic to burn off those calories we went for a walk through the forest amongst the huge ferns, pine trees and horse chestnut trees where we started to be followed by more curious cows. Duke was in his element and of course forests are also good for lizard hunting.

The Duke meets the King of the Castle …

As I mentioned earlier, with his love of rocks and lizards we felt that Spaggia San Marco was a perfect beach for Duke. Daisy loved this beach for a different reason. It was quite often on this beach that a handsome young Labrador named Zoltan would come along like a princely vision to play with her. Zoltan is the dog of our good friend Valerio whose family own Hotel Castello San Marco which is set just back from the beach, because of this it was often quite a feat to get Daisy back into our car after a visit to this beach because she would try to get through the back gate of the castle to try and find her Uncle Valerio. On a pizza night out when we first arrived back home we could not wait for Valerio and Duke to meet, it was love at first sight for both man and dog and so a visit was arranged for Duke to follow in his sisters paw prints to the castle to meet Zoltan, the true King of the Castle. The Duke and the King, a perfect match for a new doggy bromance.

Applying for a EU Pet Passport …

Since Brexit each time we travel to Sicily we have to obtain a EU Animal Health Certificate from our UK vet which costs up to £200 each time which only lasts 120 days, not only is this costly but it limits the amount of time Duke can spend in Sicily. Our UK vet said as much as he likes to see us twice a year to obtain the certificate that we should look into getting an EU Pet Passport in Italy. The Italian Pet Passport is the most coverted pet passport in Europe as it is the hardest to obtain, Italian authorities do love a lot of paperwork to stamp. Friends who take their dogs on holiday to Spain had no problem obtaining a Spanish Pet Passport and so we took Duke to meet Daisy’s lovely Sicilian vet. He explained that as a private vet he could not help us and that we must go to a public vet in the province of Messina and that our nearest is located in the old hospital of Taormina, where we would have to show proof of ownership of our house, Mr K’s Codice Fiscale (like a National Insurance number in UK), Mr K’s European passport and proof of Duke’s rabies vaccine and then go the ASP office in Taormina who would then issue us with the pet passport. He said that we could not take Duke with us to the office which we found quite strange as how would they check his microchip number. Was is that easy? No, as the ASP office is only open on certain days of the week for a couple of hours with no appointment system so the process of obtaining Duke’s Italian Pet Passport is still work in progress and a mission for his next trip.

Making New Friends …

As my regular followers will remember Daisy had the knack of finding us new friends from all over the world and it seems that Duke has that gift too.

On his daily walks up the hill behind our house we used to see a lady tending to her kitchen garden on her land with a lovely black and white dog who would rub noses with Duke through the fence. The lady used to wave at us each day and one Sunday evening she came over and started talking to us. She told us that her dog was called Oliver “like Oliver Twist” and that her cats who also came over to say hello were called “Gin and Tonic”, she then asked if we liked lattuga (lettuce) we said “of course” and she proceeded to go over to her salad patch and dug up a big and plump romano lettuce for us, such is the kindness of the Sicilians. She told us that next time we was passing to press the buzzer on the gate and to come in for a glass of wine. This autumn we are now looking forward to helping with the family olive harvest in return for a bottle of their olive oil. Like his adopted big sister Duke was finding us new friends.

When in Sicily having a dog with you in restaurants and bars along with being English gets you noticed by tourists who are missing their beloved pets back home and so Daisy and now Duke received lots cuddles and kisses and vice versa. It is another good reason for writing my Blog as these lovely people can keep in contact with our dogs and their ongoing adventures.

When we left Sicily last November we told most people we know there that we were returning to London to rescue a puppy called Duca and so everyone was waiting to meet him this spring. I think that everyone loved Daisy so much and were so devastated by her loss that Duke was totally and utterly spoilt and smothered in so much love every where he went. We have noticed that when Duke meets anyone who knew Daisy that he gives them the biggest hugs wrapping his arms around their necks, it is very hard to describe and explain these hugs as you need to be present to witness them but I hope that my photos portray his act of love and kindness.

Thank you to everyone for the love and care they have showed both our dogs, first Daisy and now her adopted little brother Duke and thank you to everyone who played “the dinosaur game” with him that he enjoys so much.

Personally I think one of Duke’s favourite moments was getting a ride in the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace Hotel’s convertible Fiat 500 sitting next to his new friend and Daisy’s uncle Vincenzo from Sicily Tours and Excursions by Franco Group cruising around White Lotus style !!!!!!

Duke’s Rock …

On Duke’s last day of his trip we let him choose a rock from the beach and we brought it home. I painted his name on it and on his final lunchtime walk up the hill we took it with us and placed it at the top of the hill as a little memory of his first trip to his Sicilian house and he is looking forward to returning to Sicily at the end of summer to check to see if it is still there.

We still miss Daisy so much and not a day goes by that we do not think of our little girl. She left us with ever lasting memories in Sicily and we know that she is always there in spirit by our side guiding Duke along on his Sicilian adventures in a place that she loved so much.

A new adventure that we always want to do was to take Daisy on a mini road trip to the west coast of the island which we never got the pleasure to do with her and so that will be a great adventure for Il Duca di Naxos.

Watch this space !!!!!