RESEARCHERS from a Channel 4 show are trying to establish a link between an Italian town and Ayr after discovering a Scottish family known by that name settled there in the 1700s.

Their show Help! We Bought a Village! follows British ex-pats who have bought abandoned villages abroad and transformed them to their original glory.

They are currently following the story of a lady in the town of Tursi, southern Italy.

According to an Italian journalist, a Scottish family lived there in the 1700s, with one of the members becoming mayor of Tursi.

Researcher Georgia Pugh said: "Our understanding is they first settled in Naples before heading further south. They are probably the first British people to live in this town, so we are keen to find out more.

"They were the 'Ayr' family, and we are eager to discover their origins back in Scotland.

"The South Ayrshire Records have been my first port of call to contact, as perhaps their surname was Ayr, due to here being their origin? However, they had no leads."

According to the Italian journalist, the family almost certainly came to Naples from 'a place called Ayr in England'. In Italian dialect it is all England, the United Kingdom, Great Britain and so on.

The first Ayr in Tursi was in 1782, that is, Giambattista Ayr, son of Innocenzo Ayr (the latter born in about 1764) Gregorio Ayr was mayor of Tursi as early as 1844-1845, then councillor and alderman almost untilhis death.

His son John Baptist Ayr (1841-1895), a valiant physician and renowned scientist, was also a mayor from 1876 to 1879.

Carmela Ayr (1873-1956), was the most important woman in the history of Tursi from antiquity to today. Poet, essayist, graduate (in the year 1900 she was one of the 300 women graduates in Italy), teacher in the Regi, Teacher Training Institutes, she spoke five languages.

If any readers can enlighten us as to the origins of the family in Ayrshire, get in touch with us and we'll pass it on to the research team.