Even in the Mafia's Sicilian heartland, discovering a severed animal's head on your office door is an event more likely to be found in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather than in real life.

But during the six years British hotelier Sir Rocco Forte has taken to complete his golf resort La Verdura on the southern Italian island, being faced with a mutilated lamb was just one of several sinister incidents. The five-star hotel also suffered repeated attacks by arsonists and vandals.

The village of Sciacca, near Agrigento in south-west Sicily, finally saw the £140m super resort open in August.

Despite Mafia interference, Italy's notorious bureaucracy, plus fights with environmentalists about the position of golf courses, La Verdura opened with little fanfare and amidst heightened security.

Forte could never have envisaged the troubles to come. Agrigento is famed for its Greek temples - and links to organised crime.

Attacks on the development ahead of its opening showed classic Mafia signs: ˜ A severed lamb's head was found on an office door; ˜ Dead dogs were found, the apparent victims of poisoning; ˜ Contractors' cars were set alight; ˜ Golf courses were vandalised

and corrosive acid was scattered over the greens; ˜ Vandals smashed bathroom fittings and other property.

One insider at the hotel group said: 'The development caused a lot of upset locally. It was creating jobs for people, but there was resentment of outsiders.'

A spokesman for the Rocco Forte Collection said: 'These incidents all relate to the early part of the construction process and it is our and the police force's view...they were linked to disputes between different contractors.

'There have been absolutely no incidents since we opened the resort.'

Police also suspected that some attacks may have been the work of environmental extremists, according to the hotel group.

However, at the time of the hotel's opening it boasted introductory offers for those staying between August 1 and December 31. It shut at the end of October and will reopen in March.

When the Sicilian resort launched last year, Forte said: 'Sicily has a fantastic history and culture - it's not just sand and sea.'

Sir Rocco now knows that the island has a dark heart, too.

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