Palermo, Sicily - A hotel group's campaign to apparently promote Sicily as the "cradle" of the organized crime syndicate Cosa Nostra, has triggered outrage among several of the Italian island's prominent political and cultural figures.

"I will ask ... for the immediate withdrawal of this brochure," the Region of Sicily's Governor Raffaele Lombardo, was quoted as saying by the daily, La Repubblica, on Monday.

The Spanish-owned NH Hotels group's decision has "offended an entire population," Lombardo added.

"It is extremely serious to trivialize the mafia and to reduce it to a tourist attraction," said Rita Borsellino a centre-left politician and sister to magistrate Paolo who was murdered in a 1992 Mafia bomb attack.

The brochure in question, published in English and German, begins by describing Sicily as: "The triangle in the Mediterranean, cradle of the Cosa Nostra."

It then goes on to list some of the island's renowned scenic attractions, including the seaside resort of Taormina, the city of Agrigento with its Ancient Greek temples, and Catania which is situated below the Mount Etna volcano.

NH management representatives in Catania, where the group runs two hotels, were quoted by La Repubblica as saying they "regretted" the incident, but said none of the allegedly offending brochures have been distributed locally.

NH management was not available for further comment.

Sicilian-born author, Vincenzo Consolo, added his voice to complaints against the brochure, but suggested that attempts to glamourize the Sicilian Mafia were not new.

Books such as The Godfather, by author Mario Puzo, that was later brought to the screen in a trilogy of films by fellow Italian- American director Francis Ford Coppola, have "unduly exalted the figure of the (Mafia) bosses, to the advantage of marketing companies."

"You can't play with the Mafia to make money," Consolo said. (dpa)