What a reputation for violence and stone-reflected heat cannot easily conjure is the Mani’s equal renown for spring flowers of astonishing richness. The ancient field system of miniature stone-walled plots planted up with olive, almond, fig and carob trees looks to have been an exercise in monumental labour and almost fruitless rearrangement of the super-abundant rock. Yet in a curious way, this same moonscape looks predesigned to set off by contrast the area’s floral softness and colour.