Pablo Neruda had three houses in Chile, the most lovely of them at La Isla Negra, on the Pacific coast near Valparaiso. This house is Neruda’s love-song to the sea that inspired so many of his poems. Like a stranded boat on the beach, its timbers creak, a collection of figure-heads loom from the rafters and miniature ships in bottles are lined against the windows. Neruda inscribed on the beams the names of his greatest friends, including the murdered Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca. Neruda himself is buried, with his third wife, Matilde, on the beach in front of the house.

I visited La Isla Negra in 1996 and was told that the day before there had been a break-in. The thieves had not stolen any of Neruda’s treasures, however, they were only after the contents of the decanter. They had drunk the brandy believed to have been from the last bottle Neruda ever opened, perhaps hoping to tap into the source of his inspiration.

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