Sant'antioco is a village with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants off Sardinia. In 1815 it was the scene of the last big Moorish raid on Italy: more than a hundred Sardinians were seized as slaves. Arabs and Berbers, then Turks and finally north African pirates terrorised the coast of Italy at intervals for 1,000 years. Muslims ruled Sicily for centuries and created enclaves there. In 846 they sacked the Vatican. Muslim incursions are now a distant folk memory-until now, when they appear frighteningly present. On February 15th Islamic State (is) released a typically horrific video of the decapitation of 21 Egyptian Copts. What alarmed Italians was the title, "A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross", and a warning that the jihadists are "south of Rome". Italians knew their capital, the papal seat, was a target. Earlier videos said that is's black flag would fly over St Peter's. But these were made when is was confined to the Middle East, not beheading Christians on a beach just across the sea from Lampedusa.
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