Italy: Flat-Earthers seek edge of the world but end up on island off Sicily

Rome: A pair of Flat Earth-enthusiasts from northern Italy set sail from Sicily with the intention of reaching the remote island of Lampedusa which – for them – represented the edge of a flat world, reports Italian paper of record Corriere della Sera.

Too bad that the couple, a middle-aged man and woman, undertook their escapade in full lockdown, breaking the strict covid-19 travel restrictions in place three months ago.

The story reveals that the hapless pair reached the north Sicilian port of Termini Imerese where they sold their car and bought a boat.

From here they set sail for their desired destination but ended up instead on the island of Ustica, 60 km to the north-west of Palermo, and not remotely near Lampedusa which is located to the far south of Sicily, near the coast of Tunisia.

The disorientated pair arrived into the harbour at Ustica “tired, thirsty, and risking shipwreck,” to the dismay of the local mayor, the carabinieri and the coast guard, according to Italian media.

“The funny thing is that they oriented themselves with a compass, an instrument that works on the basis of terrestrial magnetism, a principle that they, as flat-earthers, should refuse,” Salvatore Zichici, a doctor at the maritime department of the ministry of health, told Italian newspaper La Stampa.

After disembarking in Ustica in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, the two were escorted to Palermo where they were placed in quarantine on board their boat for 15 days.

However the couple decided to risk a daring escape by sea, which also did not go according to plan. Being inexperienced seafarers, the two were picked up by the harbour master not far from the coast, despite being at sea for three hours.

Escorted back again to the port, the pair then made another attempt to escape, this time ending up in the home of a “mythomaniac” man who claimed falsely to be coronavirus positive, before they eventually returned home to Veneto by land, to the “understandable general relief” all round, reports La Stampa