Ten years after Frank Sinatra’s death the small town of Lercara Friddi, near Corleone in northwest Sicily, has created a music festival in his honour — even though the singer refused to acknowledge that his family hailed from the area.

Throughout his life “Ol’ Blue Eyes” maintained that his grandfather Francesco came from Catania. However, in Sinatra — The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan say this was because the singer was keen to distance himself from anything that would suggest he was close to the Mafia. Lercara Friddi was also the birthplace of Charles “Lucky” Luciano, regarded as the father of modern organised crime.

According to the biographers, local church records and the testimony of relatives prove that Francesco was born in the town in 1857. The family for a time lived in the same street as the Luciano family. Francesco emigrated to New York in 1900 and sent for his family eventually.

Gaetano Licata, the Mayor of Lercara Friddi, said: “So much time has passed that all that can be put on one side. The voice of Frank Sinatra is part of our heritage.” Nancy Sinatra, the singer’s daughter, had been invited to take part next year.

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