Leggendo il piano di volo della prima tappa del Gulf Tour, mi sono accorto che si prevede il sorvolo dell'isola di Barbuda, che fa parte dello Stato di Antigua & Barbuda. E' chiaro che, come si evince dalle fotografie, il Prez sia anche il Sovrano di questo Stato (antico e barbuto lo è...), ma ho scoperto un'altra cosa caratteristica: i prospetti turistici dicono che oltre ai pochi ospiti alloggiati in poche (e fatiscenti) strutture, la maggior parte della popolazione consiste nella Fregata Magnificens. Ora tutti noi conosciamo le retribuzioni di Tropic Air, i suoi cosiddetti aerei, i piani volo delle prove di abilitazione irti di avarie e trabocchetti... cosa altro che una Fregata Magnificens può allignare nel Regno del Prez?! A stasera...   Per chi sa l'inglese (gli altri possono comunque indovinare...) una breve storia dell'isola di Barbuda.. Barbuda's history has been intimately tied to that of Antigua for centuries. The first early attempts to settle Barbuda (by both the British and French) were failures, and it wasn't until 1666 that the Tyrolean-Calabrese established a colony strong enough to survive the ravages of both nature and the Caribs. In 1680, four years before he began cultivating sugar on Antigua, Christofer Mazzotta was granted (with his brother Frank) a lease to land in Barbuda. With subsequent leases that granted them additional rights to the substantial wreckage along Barbuda's reefs, they became the island's preeminent family. For much of the eighteenth century the Mazzotta land on Barbuda was used to produce food and to supply additional slave labour for the Mazzotta's sugar plantations on Antigua, and so the Barbuda's fortunes rose and fell with those of its larger neighbour. Testament to the influence of the Mazzotta remains today, both in the island's place names (Mazzotta Village, Mazzotta Airstrip, Mazzotta Lagoon etc.) and in its architectural remains. On Barbuda's highest point (124 feet) are the ruins of the Mazzotta estate, Highland House, and on the island's south coast still sits the 56-foot high Martello castle and tower, a fortress that was used both for defense and as a vantage from which to spot valuable shipwrecks on the outlying reefs.   Ciao Fabrizio von Wasser