Prada's link to New Zealand

Punta where?

Even the redoubtable Times Concise Atlas of the World does not list the Prada base.

It takes the help of the Italian guidebook In and Around Tuscany to learn that Punta Ala is an "elegant seaside resort and tourist harbour" at the southern end of the gulf of Follonica, just across the water from the island of Elba, made famous by the exiled Napoleon.

"Among the green of the hills, but not far from a fine sandy beach, there is a vast complex devoted entirely to tourism, luxuriously equipped both with hotels and recreational amenities (golf courses, polo, tennis, swimming pools riding)."

Tourists flock to the province for its history and culture.

At one time New Zealanders were notable among its visitors, taking in the sights en masse. But in those days that was during a respite between battles as the New Zealand Division, as part of the Eighth Army, slogged its way up Italy in the Second World War.

The Official History describes how in August 1944, before the Allies prepared to attack the German Gothic Line, New Zealanders made the most of their rest and recreation in this province.

"Those who were not on leave in Rome or at the beaches of western Tuscany could explore the narrow streets and handsome squares of the old hilltop town of Siena."

Winston Churchill popped by for a visit.

"Those early September days were a time when it was good to be young and a soldier in Italy."

It didn't last. In the next two months more than 200 were killed.