22 BBC Frank Gillard town band in Lentini

Well, this is the big social occasion of the week here in Lantini. These people clearly love their music, though incidentally they never seem to applaud very much, and their band is indeed a pretty good one.

It's been playing pieces by Italian composers, Bellini and Verdi, and now it's come to the end of the programme. Since the first Sunday after our invasion, they've rounded their performance off with the British and American national anthems.

They've done it quite spontaneously as a gesture to show their friendship. And now we're about to record them as this Italian band in this little Sicilian town plays the anthems of two of the United Nations whose soldiers have come to liberate them.

The conductor is waiting for a signal from me, so here we go.