Leading the growing public campaign against the onward march of Sicilian wind farms is Vittorio Sgarbi, a nationally known, loud-mouthed, publicity-seeking television personality and art critic who describes himself as a political mercenary in his latest incarnation as elected mayor of the town of Salemi.

The 56-year-old politician, who unabashedly courts controversy, is taking court action against the wind farms built near his historic hilltop fiefdom in western Sicily, some of which he alleges were built by Mafia-linked companies after corrupt deals with local politicians.

Mr Sgarbi's strident campaign has exposed deep divisions within the environmental movement - between those who see the giant wind towers sprouting like mushrooms in the rain as an aesthetic abomination and uneconomic prospect, and those who look to renewable energy sources as the future.

"We will blow them up," he jokes, instructing his aide to prepare "intimidation" against the eyesores.

He recently enlisted the support of Valéry Giscard D'Estaing at a conference against the spread of wind power, while acknowledging that he and the former French president took the rather unpopular view that the answer to Sicily's energy needs lay in one big nuclear power plant.

"Nuclear would be the lesser evil," he says. "We are stuck in the myths of the 70s over nuclear."

His views on nuclear power plants aside, Mr Sgarbi has managed to tap into a prevailing suspicion among Sicilians that wind farms - mostly owned by big multinationals - are just the latest manifestation of a historical trend of foreign exploitation of the island that began with the Greeks more than 2,000 years ago and ran the gamut of Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, French and, finally, Italians from the north.

Mr Sgarbi, who is from northern Italy, was ejected from the Milan city council last year and decided to run as mayor for Salemi last year on the list of the UDC, a centrist Catholic party that previously supported Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, but is now in opposition. An unashamed mercenary - he describes himself as a "captain of adventure and a corsair" - he has been associated with at least 10 political parties.

Over lunch hosted by Paolina Orlanda, whose view towards the coast from her 19th century villa offering bed and breakfast has been violated by wind farms, Mr Sgarbi fields constant phone calls (which he puts on speaker phone) from various political parties seeking his candidacy in June's European and Italian local elections. He remains undecided but is tempted to run for the province of Rovigo in northern Italy, seeing no problem in holding two posts at the poles of Italy at the same time.

Joined by his 20-something-year-old companion Federica, whom he introduces as his little niece or grand-daughter, Mr Sgarbi shows off a recent magazine article in which he is quoted as saying that being a mayor is like being a husband. "But for a man like me, who is constitutionally unfaithful, I could be mayor of at least 40 or 50 places," the article says. Federica smiles and Ms Orlanda's lunch of "poor man's rabbit" (grilled cheese) and local wine continues.

Salemi, which is almost ringed by wind farms, was wrecked by an earthquake in 1968. Its name hails from the Arabic greeting "Salaam" and the peak of the town is dominated by a Norman castle and the ruins of a church and the former Arab and Jewish quarters. Ugly concrete apartment blocks from the 1970s and the decay of the historic centre are the legacy of the quake.

Mr Sgarbi's skill as a publicist has been to put the town of 12,000 people on the international map. He has declared Salemi the Italian capital of Tibet's government in exile. Last week he hosted Tibetan politicians, offered ruined homes for sale for €1 on the condition the owners undertake their restoration (rock star Peter Gabriel is touted as a prospective buyer), organised an exhibition of the Baroque artist Caravaggio, and tilted against wind towers.

He describes Stefania Prestigiacomo, Italy's environment minister and industrialist who last week hosted a G8 environment summit in her Sicilian home-town of Syracuse and is pushing wind power, as an "idiot".

"We are putting Salemi on the map," he says. "My role is not to administer Salemi but to project it."

Despite Salemi's dubious reputation as a Mafia stronghold in the past, Mr Sgarbi declares it a "Mafia-free zone".

"The Mafia are not as powerful as before," he says, a view echoed by law enforcement authorities who have carried out devastating arrests of mob bosses in recent years. "They are now trying to recycle their money in big European projects," he adds, launching once more into a rant against the abominable towers.