travelogue

BRACCIANO

Richard and I had wanted to visit Italy together for some time, but we had been busy with our African travels. One day whilst eating lunch with Richards parents, they mentioned holiday destinations, and before we knew it it had been decided that the four of us would go away together. It was either Italy or Singapore, and as Richards parents had not flown before we thought that a destination with as short a flight as possible would be preferable for their first adventure, so Italy it was. As soon as we returned home from the pub Richard went straight online to look for flights, accommodation and car rental. Once the flights were sorted it was down to the more interesting searching for some accommodation. We all decided that we would prefer to stay self catering, so Richard found lots of villas for us to choose from. We had chosen the area of Bracciano, as it was near enough to Rome for us to be able to visit as often as we wanted, and far enough away from Rome so that we could enjoy some peace and quiet too. After lots of deliberation we had just two villas left to choose from. We chose Altare Del Lupo, which looked really lovely in the photographs. Next Richard sorted out a car, neither of us were keen on BMW or diesel cars but that was exactly what we hired, a diesel BMW. Well it seemed like the best choice, and once we arrived in Italy we were both very surprised with the car. It didn't feel like a diesel it was very nippy, and the best thing was that we hardly ever needed to go to the petrol station. In fact we were talking about the car recently, and neither of us can actually remember filling it with petrol, and we covered many many miles whilst we were in Italy. So all we had to do now that everything was booked was to think about what clothes we wanted to take, and then wait for the day of our departure. We flew to Rome sometime in March, and I think that Richards father in particular was slightly disappointed with the flight. As he had not flown before I think he thought that it would be more exciting and eventful. But as with most flights now, you enter the aircraft via a covered walkway which feels as though you haven't left the airport building, so he didn't even really get a good look at the plane. I think he would have felt more like he was flying if he could have walked across the tarmac to board the plane. Oh well, as soon as he was settled in his seat he fell asleep and didn't wake until we landed at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome. Richards father always falls asleep when travelling, within minutes of sitting down, he is the perfect passenger when driving, nice and quiet! Our villa; Altare Del Lupo, was not far from the airport, about an hour I think, so once we had struggled to fit all of our suitcases into the boot, and in the back seat with Richards folks we were on our way. Everyone says how mad the Italian drivers are, but we never noticed anything crazy. They do drive fast but then so do we, the one thing we did notice was what excellent parking skills they all seem to have. They can park a car in a space only inches longer then their car in seconds without a scratch, Richard and myself on the other hand are not that great at parking our cars. We have always claimed that it is because we don't drive the same car for any length of time, so we cannot get used to judging the size of any vehicle. For the last couple of years living in the U.K. we had driven hire cars as we didn't own one of our own. But since we have lived in France we have owned just two cars and we are still bad at parking, so I don't think that excuse will wash anymore, we are just not spatially aware! Well they say that women have no spatial awareness and poor old Richard does suffer with his back which makes reversing difficult ... oh here we go again more excuses so I'll just admit it ... when it comes to parking we are rubbish! Right, back to the drive from the airport to our home for the next couple of weeks. We found the roads to be quite well sign posted, and we found the road where our new home was located without any trouble. However we just couldn't find the actual villa, we drove up and down the road several times, and there just wasn't a property with the correct number. So eventually we rang the owner of the property and explained that we were in the road but couldn't find the villa. My memory is not what it was but I seem to remember that someone from the family came out to meet us, hooray we were 'home'. The villa where we were going to be staying was on quite a large plot of land, and next door was another property where the owners lived. Once inside we were met by the wife of the family who explained everything to us, heating, water etc and showed us round. We had been left some basics such as tea, milk etc which was a thoughtful gesture. The villa itself was incredibly spacious and furnished nicely. There were two large bedrooms, and one bathroom with shower and bath. The kitchen was more compact as is normal in many Italian properties, as eating out is a big part of Italian life, but it did have everything we needed and more, such as appliances and utensils etc. The lounge area was huge and divided into many different areas, there was a large dining area with a large table, and then several other areas with different seating. The main focal point of this huge room was a very large fire place, which we put to use every night burning some lovely big logs from outside, as it did get quite chilly late in the evening. The garden was pretty and there was a small raised swimming pool, although the weather was not warm enough for us to make use of it. It was early evening by the time we had decided which bedrooms we wanted, and we needed to go out and buy some food. We asked the friendly lady from next door where the nearest supermarket was, she told us where to go and it worked out that by the time we got there it would be open again for the evening. Richard and I thought that we would go alone just to pick up some basics, and let his parents rest as they are quite elderly and we had all been up since around 3am. But they said they both wanted to come with us, so all four of us piled into the car and we set off. Neither Richard or myself enjoy the supermarket experience and had his parents been able to drive we would both had gladly stayed behind and let them go, never mind. The supermarket was not far away and had a reasonable choice of food, during all of our travels we have found that all supermarkets are much the same wherever you are. Considering we had only planned to buy a few bits just to keep us going until we were less tired and could do a big shop we ended up with an overflowing trolley. That's the trouble with going food shopping when you are hungry! Back at the villa Richard set about cooking with a little help from me. We had already promised that neither of Richards parents would have to lift a finger on this trip, well that's the least we could do to say thank you for this fantastic holiday. Not that his father would have helped anyway as he is not that kind of man, he is waited on hand and foot by his wife, so we definitely wanted to make sure that Richards mother had a real rest for a change. I remember that we all slept very well that night, the beds were nice and comfortable and we woke the next morning feeling refreshed. Although we were all very keen to go to Rome we spent the next day in the town of Bracianno. Considering it was a small place we were more than happy walking round Bracianno for hours, window shopping; there was a couple of shops selling clothes and a nice jewellery shop, and a very large cafe which was always busy and sold the most delicious cakes and ice-creams. Obviously as it was our nearest village we visited Bracciano on a number of occasions. There was not that much of interest to do there except for the castle of the Orsini family dating from the 1470's. The Castello Orsini-Odescalchi (open all year Tues-Sun 10am-12; April-Sept also 3pm-6:30pm; Oct-Mar also 3pm-5pm). We went for a guided tour of the castle and managed to understand most of what was said with our very limited Italian, as well as taking lots of video footage; looking back I don't think it was that interesting to shoot, but the video camera was my new toy and I video taped everything I saw in Italy!

ROME

Colosseum

To get into Rome, which was about an hour and a half away, we drove to the nearest train station and left the car, travelling the rest of the way by train. The train was amazing, Richard and I are not usually big fans of public transport but we were impressed with this. The trains were very regular and exceptionally clean and modern, they were double-decker carriages which once inside split into three floors. We had to get to the station very early to insure that we were able to park as the car park was very busy with commuters. Luckily each time we went we were lucky to get a parking spot. We all loved Rome, there was so much to see there, the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Arch of Constantine and so much more. We spent several days and many hours exploring this amazing city, and I am sure we only scrapped the surface. As keen as we were to explore the ancient monuments in this beautiful city, the first day that Richard, myself and his parents went to Rome, Richard and I decided to go shopping! So whilst Richards parents set off to explore the Vatican Museum we waved goodbye to them and hailed a taxi to take us to the Via Condotti, which was where we knew we would find lots of opportunities to browse and purchase gorgeous clothes, Gucci look out! The Via Condotti is at the foot of the Spanish Steps and home to most of the big name fashion stores, we had a great time. Once we had the shopping out of our systems we were able to fully appreciate the amazing sites that Rome has to offer. On subsequent visits to Rome during our stay in Italy, we visited many of the most famous monuments. The Vatican; The Worlds smallest country. St Peter's piazza can apparently hold 300,000 people and not be crowded, that will give you an idea of the scale of the place. On first site it is breathtaking, when we were there we were lucky enough not to have to queue. But we could imagine how busy it gets as there were miles of barriers that would help to control the crowds queuing during the busier times. The square is surrounded by massive columns and statues of saints, the video camera was definitely going to be very well used here, thankfully we had bought an extra battery just in case! One of the first sites that Richard and I went to see was the Colosseum, the most famous monument of ancient Rome (Open daily 9am-Dusk; Tel 06 699 0110 or 06 3908 0730). The Colosseum is the largest ampitheatre ever built by the Romans, although it's design was copied all over the empire in similar buildings. The Colosseum is in remarkable condition considering that for centuries it was pillaged for its stone, the north-east side in particular seems almost undamaged. The Colosseum has been Rome's emblem of eternity for many centuries. An Anglo Saxon pilgrims prophecy says that 'While the Colisaeus stands, Rome shall stand; when the Colisaeus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, the world shall fall.' The name probably referred to Nero's colossal statue, which stood next to the ampitheatre, but it became a popular name for the building itself and remains so to this day. The original name; Flavian Ampitheatre was to commemorate the family name of Vespasian, responsible for starting the building in AD 70/75 (depending on what you read), and of Titus his son, and Domitian who completed the building ten years later. Once completed the inaugural festival lasted for 100 days and saw the deaths of many gladiators and around 5,000 wild beasts. The gladiatorial combats and wild animal hunts (venationes) made for very popular entertainment, with grand ceremonies in the Colosseum throughout the Imperial period. The Colosseum was capable of holding 50,000 people, with three tiers of seating and standing room above. The gladiators were made up of condemned convicts, prisoners of war or slaves who would fight man to man in single combat in the timber floored arena. When one of the galdiators was killed then the other would be declared the winner. Of the wild beasts that were slaughtered at the Colosseum, there would have been tigers, lions, elephants and even crocodiles which were shipped to Rome for the spectacle. Occasionally the arena was flooded with water, to stage mock sea battles (naumachiae). Gladiatorial combats were suppressed in the fifth century and in 523 so were the wild beasts fights. The ampitheatre has had a tough time of it over the years as well as being pillaged for its stone it has suffered many other troubles. There was a fire in 217, and an earthquake caused damage in 443, and once again earthquakes were to strike in 1231 and 1349. The exterior of the Colosseum is roughly 189m in length, 156m in width and about 50m high, the total circumference measures 545m. The building is constructed using travertine outside and brick faced concrete and tufa in the interior. Iron clamps would have held the travertine blocks together originally but these have been missing since the middle ages. The exterior wall supports the complex interior and has four storeys. The three lower storeys have rows of arches decorated with engaged columns of the three orders superimposed; Tuscan Doric is on the lowest, Ionic is on the middle, and the top has Corinthian. The fourth storey doesn't have arches, it is articulated by slender Corinthian pilasters dating from Alexander Severus' restoration. On the second and third storeys statues would have originally occupied the arches. The audience would have been protected from the elements by the projecting corbels, which supported 240 wooden poles which when inserted through the holes in the cornice would have protruded above the top of the building and supported an awning. There were 80 arches on the ground floor all of which were numbered and served as entrances. Through these numbered arches were the concentric vaulted corridors which gave access to the stairs. The spectators would enter through the arch that had the corresponding number of their ticket, then they would ascend the appropriate stairs to find their seat in the cavea along one of the numerous passages. There were also four main entrances at the ends of the diameters of the eclipse; north-east, south-east, south-west, and north-west. On the north-east, without a cornice and wider than the others between arches XXXVIII and XXXIX opening into a hall decorated with stuccoes, and reserved especially for him, was where the emperor would have entered. The interior is still magnificent even though more than two thirds of the original masonry has been removed. Obviously now with the wooden floor gone the view is not what it would have been as the underground passages are no longer covered by the wood but open and clearly visible. Having said that the view once you are inside the Colosseum is spectacular, the sheer size is amazing. The arena is 83m by 48m, the name comes from the sand (arena) which once covered the floor to soak up the blood and to help the combatants from losing their footing. Beneath the arena it is possible to see the substructures which housed the complex mechanisms which hoisted the scenery and other pieces of equipment into the arena, also here were the access passages and there would have been cages for the animals.

Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is a lavish eighteenth century vision of utter decadence. The water is that of the Acqua Vergine Antica aqueduct, which Agrippa brought to Rome from a spring about 20km east of the city in order to supply his public baths near to the Pantheon in 19 BC. It was used throughout the middle ages and in 1570 Pius V restored it, and it still feeds the Piazza Farnese, Piazza Navona and the Piazza di Spagna fountains. The original fountain was a very simple basin by Leon Battista Alberti, Urban VIII restored it, apparently obtaining the money from a wine tax ... outrageous! Bernini, Gaspare Vanvitelli and Ferdinando Fuga are just some of the famous architects who put forward ideas for a new fountain. And in 1732 Clement XII ran a competition giving the commission to the not so well known Roman architect and poet Nicola Salvi. His design incorporated the Neo Classical facade of Palazzo Poli as it's background. Unfortunately Nicola Salvi died before the fountain was completed by others including Pietro Bracci in 1762. There are figures of Neptune protected by statues which symbolise Abundance and Health. Two huge Tritons conduct Neptunes' winged chariot which is pulled by horses galloping through the water, one of them is blowing a conch. Above are bas reliefs representing the virgin from which the aqueduct got its name. You can see four statues representing the seasons with gifts. The arms of the Corsini family are at the summit. Around the end of the nineteenth century people began to throw coins over their shoulders into the fountain before they left the city to bring them good luck and to ensure that they would one day return. There were lots of people doing just that when we were there, and as the saying goes 'when in Rome' so both Richard and I threw coins in too. The coins are collected every Monday morning, any Euros go into the municipality's coffers, and foreign currency coins are donated to the Italian Red Cross. The Trevi Fountain has featured in many films; 'Three Coins in the Fountain' from 1954 and 'La Dolce Vita' from 1959 by Frederico Fellini which showed Anita Ekberg taking a dip in the water.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon (Open Mon-Sat 9am-6:30pm and Sun 9am-1pm, Tel: 06 68 30 02 30) is the most interesting monument in Rome as far as we are concerned. The Pantheon that stands today is not the original, this second building was begun in AD 118/119 and was completed around AD 125/128, receiving the name Pantheon which it has retained. The first original temple was built during the third consulate of Agrippa BC 27 to commemorate the victory over Anthony and Cleopatra at Actium. The original building was damaged by a fire in AD 80, then restored by Domitian, misfortune struck again when in 110 it was struck by lightening and destroyed by another fire. The Pantheon was restored by Septimius and Caracalla. The first Christian emperors closed it and it was abandoned to be pillaged by the Goths. The Byzantine emperor Phocas gave it to Boniface IV, Boniface consecrated it as a Christian church in 609, dedicating it to Santa Maria ad Martyres. Legend says that 28 wagon loads of martyrs' bones were transferred there from the catacombs. During a 12 day visit to Rome in 667, Constans II emperor of Byzantium robbed the temple, taking what the Goths had left. He stripped the roof of its gilded tiles which were most likely bronze. The temple was once again restored in 684 by Benedict II, the roof was covered with lead by Gregory III in 735, and in 1153 a palace was built beside it by Anastasius. The Pantheon served as a fortress during the struggles between the rival aristocratic families of Orsini and Colonna, when the popes took up residence in Avignon. Eugenius IV isolated the building in 1435, it was so revered, that on taking office a Roman senator swore that he would preserve 'Maria Rotonda', including the cities relics and sacred treasures for the pontiff. This monument continued to be admired during the Renaissance, and in 1563 Pius IV repaired the bronze door. Unfortunately Bernini added two odd looking turrets in front when he was employed by the Barberini pope Urban VIII. These clumsy turrets were popularly called the 'ass ears of Bernini'! This was not the only act of vandalism perpetrated by Urban VIII, he also had the bronze ceiling of the portico melted down to make the baldacchino at St Peter's and 80 cannon for Castel Sant Angelo. This act prompted the talking statue Pasquino's gibe, 'Quod non fecerunt barbari fecerunt Barberini', which translates as ' What the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did'! In 1662 Alexander VII had the portico restored by Giuseppe Paglia, and the level of the piazza was lowered providing a better view of the facade. In 1668 Clement IX had the portico enclosed by an iron railing. Many years later in 1747 Benedict XIV had the interior and the atrium restored by Paolo Posi. Thankfully those Bernini turrets were removed in 1883. Buried there are the first two Kings and the first Queen of Italy. The Pantheon definitely makes its presence felt in the piazza where it stands. The portico is almost 34m in width and 15.5m deep. There are 16 monolithic Corinthian columns of granite, the bases are white marble, each 12.5m high with a circumference of 4.5m. Three of these columns on the east side are not original, one of them was replaced in 1625 by Urban VIII and the other two were replaced in 1655/1657 by Alexander VII. At the front, stand eight of these huge columns the others in four rows forming three aisles. The central aisle leads up to the bronze door, the others lead you to two great niches where it is thought that originally statues of Augustus and Agrippa may have stood. When we first walked inside the Pantheon it took our breath away, most of the people visiting were just standing still looking up, as were we, amazed at the genius of the architect. The domed interior is amazing, the visual impact it makes unforgettable. Looking up at the dome there are five rows of coffers reducing in size as they near the circular opening in the centre, which measures nearly 9m across, amazing. The design of the coffers is responsible for the effect of the light. Originally these sunken panels were probably decorated with gilded bronze rosettes. The dome, which contains no brick arches or vaults, is the largest masonry vault ever built, exceeding the dome of St Peter's by over one metre. The cylindrical wall is 6m thick containing seven niches, except for the central apse, each one is preceded by two Corinthian columns of giallo antico and flanked by pilasters, the apse has two free standing columns. These niches or recesses would originally have contained statues but now house eight shrines. Triangular pediments flank the apse and entrance, and the others are segmented pediments. Supporting these are two Corinthian columns in giallo antico, porphyry or granite. Above the recess is the entablature and higher still is the attic which was unsuccessfully restored in 1747, as this stage is more pronounced than intended. To the right of the apse you can see part of the original decoration. Between the rectangular openings were pilasters of red marble, more than half the original marble sheets on the walls are still intact, and although the floor has been restored it still retains the original design. In the first chapel on the right hand side are two seventeenth century marble angels and the 'Annunciation' a fresco by Antoniazzo Romano or Melozzo da Forli. There is another fresco this time from the fourteenth century of the 'Coronation of the Virgin', in the aedicule. The tomb of Vittorio Emanuele II, (designed by Manfredo Manfredi), Italy's first king, is in the second chapel. In the third chapel is a fifteenth century Madonna and saints, and in the main apse above the high altar is a seventh century icon of the Virgin and Child. There are other points of interest including a sixteenth century crucifix, the tomb of Raphael and a statue of Madonna del Sasso. There are other famous artists who were buried in the Pantheon including, Baldassare Peruzzi, Giovanni da Udine, Annibale Carracci, Perino del Vaga and Taddeo Zuccari. The Pantheon is an amazing building, it's a great shame though that across the piazza from it, McDonald's rears it's ugly head!

Arch of Constantine

The Arch of Constantine stands next to the Colosseum, in fact you can get some good shots with your camera looking down from there. Erected in AD 315 in honour of Constantine's victory over rival emperor Maxentius, whom he defeated at the Milvian Bridge in AD 312. The arch was restored in 1989. Adorned with sculptures which were reused from older Roman monuments. On the inside of the central archway are reliefs from the frieze of another monument which commemorated Trajan's victories over the Dacians. On the two facades are eight medallions depicting scenes of hunting, these were originally from a monument erected by Hadrian. Higher above are more reliefs which were taken from a monument to Marcus Aurelius, these show orations to the army and the triumphal entry to Rome. Even today the detail in even the smallest figures is amazingly clear and beautiful.

Trajan's Column

Trajan's Column is an amazing site, standing 29.7m high on it's own, 39.8m high in total with the latter addition of the statue of St Peter on the top. The column is constructed from marble drums, it underwent restoration which commenced in 1980 and was completed in 1988. The column was dedicated to Trojan by Hadrian, in memory of his conquest over the Dacians. The frieze spirals down the column for 200m and contains about 2500 relief figures depicting Trajan's outstanding military achievements. Amazingly the carving was completed in under four years. Although it is not easy to appreciate the minute details of all of the figures from the ground, the column is a masterpiece of Roman sculptural art.

As I mentioned earlier we went into Rome on several occasions during our holiday, each time exploring and appreciating more of the amazing architecture, monuments, people, foo,d and lets not forget the clothes!

We had rented the villa for the whole duration of our visit to Italy, this meant that we clocked up a lot of miles in the car visiting other places of interest outside of Rome. Having a fixed base at the villa in Bracciano, as opposed to being more mobile, and staying in different places every couple of days, meant that we got up and out early most mornings, so that we could get on the road and arrive at our destination early enough to make a full day of it. Bracciano, where our villa was is north of Rome and that was the general direction that we headed in when we had days away from 'home'. In no particular order we visited Pisa, Assisi, Puglia, and Florence, as well as many other gorgeous places. Poor old Richard, he was our chauffeur, he drove such great distances, and he did practically all of the cooking whenever we ate at the villa. We did eat out a lot, it would be a shame to visit Italy and then not enjoy the local cuisine. We ate so much delicious fresh food, most of which was very healthy. Although it did seem that whenever any of us ordered a snack like a panini or sandwich, it always came with lots of cheese added even when we hadn't ordered any. Surprisingly neither Richard or myself put on any weight whilst we were away, I guess it must have been all of the exercising as we did a lot of walking. We don't eat any more when we are away then we do at home like some people do though, although in Italy it could be very easy to overeat as everything is so tempting.

PISA

Leaning Tower of Pisa

I think Pisa was the furthest place we visited as a day trip, and obviously our main reason for going there was to see the leaning tower. As the Italians like to think of themselves as very skilled engineers it has been said that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was built deliberately to tilt. As it is one of many leaning towers in Italy, this does seem to be true. Then there are the Roman roads, aqueducts, the invention of cement, the Pantheon, the dome of St Peter's, so it does seem unlikely that these leaning towers are just down to bad craftsmanship. There are many theories written about this subject all of which present an interesting case whichever you believe to be true. Anyway all leaning aside, early one morning we set off for Pisa. The drive took about four hours. When we arrived in Pisa we were lucky enough to find parking easily, and very close to the tower. A short walk from the car and we arrived at The 'Field of Miracles' (Campo dei Miracoli). This is an expanse of lawn where the Pisans' built the cathedral, situated at the northern edge of the town inside the walls. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was begun in the mid twelfth century, the cathedral in 1063, and the Campo Santo in 1278. You can buy a ticket called the 'biglietto cumulativo' if you wish to visit all three of the monuments instead of paying for each attraction separately. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 190 marble and granite columns, and stands 328 feet tall. Having seen many pictures of the tower before, I was surprised at how small it appeared. I guess whenever I had seen a picture before they consisted of just the tower and not the other nearby monuments, so the perception of scale was hard to define. The tower has been under extensive, and expensive (millions of dollars) repairs for many years to shore it up. There were quite a lot of people visiting the tower when we were there, but not so many that it spoilt the view. There were lots of stalls in the field of miracles selling leaning tower inspired tat, ornaments, lamps etc which seemed surprisingly popular with other tourists. Whilst in Pisa you could visit The Bapistry, (Open Daily 8am-7:40pm in summer and 9am-5:40pm in spring/autumn and 9am-4:40pm during the winter). The Bapistry is the largest of it's kind in Italy. The architect responsible for the Bapistry was Master Diotisalvi (God Save You). Inside, the baptismal font is by Guido Bigarelli, and the pulpit by Nicola Pisano's which was made in about 1260. Also worth a look is the Cathedral, (Open April-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-7:40pm, Sun 1pm-7:40pm; winter Mon-Sat 10am-12:45pm, Sun 3pm-4:45pm). On the south transept the twelfth century Porte San Ranieri has a pair of bronze doors by Bonanno who was one of the architects on the leaning tower. There was a fire in 1595 which destroyed most of the original art along with the roof and most of the Cosmati pavement. The pulpit by Giovanni Pisano in 1300 was disassembled after the fire and left in crates forgotten. Once we had spent a few pleasurable hours wandering around the field of miracles we headed off to look around some more of Pisa. We walked round the narrow streets which were considerably quieter than where we had been, a lot less people. The day seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were back in the car heading for 'home'. We were all definitely going to sleep well that night, after the early start and the motion of the car making us sleepy.

ASSISI

Assisi was much nearer to our villa than Pisa, but we still managed to make a full day of it. Unfortunately the day we visited Assisi the weather was not that great, it was fairly drab and rained on and off all day. Assisi is a beautiful medieval town high up on a spur of Monte Subasio with amazing views over the countryside of Umbria. Obviously the main pull of the town is The Basilica de San Francesco, and everything in Assisi is related to Francis. St Francis, known affectionately as IL Poverello; the Little Poor One, lived from 1182-1226. He was born to a wealthy cloth merchant Pietro Bernardone, and baptised Giovanni but he was always called Francesco by his Francophile father. He was captured during the Assisi war against Perugia and spent a year in prison. On his release from prison he gave all he owned to the poor, preached his message of poverty and humility and soon attracted followers. Francis refused to take priestly orders but in 1209 he received authorization for his community from Innocent III. During his career Francis spent a lot of time travelling through Spain to Morocco preaching as he went. Francis' songs and canticles were among the first vernacular verses, and the foundation for a thirteenth century literary movement. The movements most famous work was the Fioretti; The Little Flowers, believed to be in part, written by Francis. In 1221 Honorius III sanctioned the Franciscan Rule of poverty, chastity and obedience. Francis subsequently received the stigmata and died two years later. The Basilica di San Francesco (Open Daily summer 6:30am-7pm, winter 6:30am-6pm). Francis had said that when he died he wanted to be buried alongside the criminals on 'Infernal Hill'. Brother Elias his lieutenant did not wish to ignore his wishes, and so when Francis was canonized in April 1228 he began work on a two storey basilica on the hill. The hill was renamed the Hill of Paradise and although not every member of the order agreed that the project was suitable for a holy man so wedded to poverty, brother Elias and Pope Gregory IX who laid the cornerstone, triumphed in their creation of a work of art and Franciscan memorial. Inside the lower church there are beautiful frescoes by thirteenth and fourteenth century masters. Although the interior is very dark you can illuminate these frescoes as long as you have plenty of coins to hand. There is a fresco by Simone Martini; The Life of St Martin, and the Life of Mary Magdalen (1314) by Giotti. In the crypt lie the tombs of Francis and four of his followers, they were discovered in 1818 after being sealed off in the fifteenth century to protect them against the relic stealers, Perugia. At the Museo-Tesoro della Basilica (Open April-Oct 9:30am-12 noon and 2pm-6pm Nov-Mar) you will find many items of interest. There is a thirteenth century French ivory Madonna, and a tapestry of St Francis among other finds. The upper church is surprisingly bright after the darkness of the lower church, and is home to two major medieval frescoes, they were damaged by the earthquake but remain intact. These frescoes show Francis' life, by Giotto and scenes from the old and new testament by Pietro Cavallini. Whilst we were walking around Assisi we could see a lot of damage to the buildings from the 1997 earthquake. Although at that time there had been major renovation all over the town, there were still some buildings with scaffolding and the sound of men continuing the restoration work. Whilst we were in Asssisi we must have eaten lunch but I cannot remember where or what we ate, but I do remember that there were a number of restaurants serving delicious sounding food, such as the Buca di San Francesco, Via Brizi 1, Tel: 075 812 204. The restaurant is underground in a medieval cellar serving dishes such as cannelloni, Assisi style pigeon and fillet steak cooked in the finest red Umbrian wine. Another tempting place is the Il Medio Evo, Via dell'Arco dei Priori 4, Tel: 975 813 068. This restaurants serves lovely antipasti with Umbrian prosciutto, pasta with truffles and guinea fowl cooked with grapes. There were also some places selling pizza and other snacks at reasonable prices. If something sweeter is more your thing then there were lots of places selling gorgeous looking strudels and other cakes.

Maybe Richard and I are a bit odd in the fact that we quite often don't bother to eat when we go out, especially on long journeys. We find that after a meal or even a snack, the last thing either of us want to do is get back into a car. Ideally we would both have an afternoon nap! We didn't expect Richards parents to go without food though, and they both thoroughly enjoyed all of the meals they ate. As neither of them were driving on this trip they both had lovely long afternoon naps in the back of the car on the journey back home. Richards father in particular would fall asleep as soon as the engine was started and usually sleep for the whole time only waking once we were at our destination, lucky thing! Obviously it goes without saying really that food plays an important part of life in Italy, and we did all enjoy some gorgeous meals whilst we were there. I am not in the least bit fussy when it comes to food, I like most things but I am spoilt at home. Richard is a wonderful cook so more often than not, whenever we have eaten at restaurants, I am left underwhelmed wishing I had waited until we got home for some of Richards cooking. So as well as doing all of the driving poor Richard spent a lot of his time in the kitchen at the villa feeding us all.

FLORENCE

Richards parents had treated us to this trip, and we thought that as a little thank you, when we went to Florence we would not do it as a day trip, but so that we could all really enjoy the place we would stay overnight. We didn't tell Richards parents, we thought it would be a nice surprise. So we booked two rooms at the Excelsior, Piazza Ognissanti 3, Tel: 055 2715 www.starwood.com. Described as the luxury leader in the city, we thought it would do! Apparently the hotel was a former address of Napoleons sister Caroline. We had read that the hotel was full of marble, immaculately staffed and decadently luxurious. Some of the rooms have views of the river, which is what we booked. The view from our room was lovely, especially at night with the lights on the Ponte Vecchio. Compared to Bracciano where we were staying, Florence was slightly busier with traffic. So as soon as we pulled up outside the hotels entrance it was with real pleasure that Richard handed over the car keys to the valet, and that was the last time we gave a thought to the car or parking until our departure. It did appear as though parking was at a premium, a nightmare just like many other cities. Richard was especially pleased now that he was no longer the designated driver, as finally he could sample some of Italy's finest red wines.

The Uffizi Gallery

Florence is a museum town, and our main reason for going there was to visit the famous Uffizi Gallery (Open summer Tues-Fri 8:30am-9pm, Sat 8:30am-midnight, Sun 8:30am-8pm, winter Tues-Sun 8:30am-6:50pm.) As the Uffizi gets seriously busy with long queues in the summer it is advisable to pre-book, Tel: 055 294 883, or if you are staying in Florence some of the hotels can arrange entrance for you. You could very easily spend a couple of days in the Uffizi as the collection is amazing. There are works by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Cimabue, Ucello, Fillippo Lippi, Botticelli, Piero della Francesca, Piero di Cosimo, Goya, Van Dyck, Rembrant, and most famously Michelangelo and his marble David, whose work we had already appreciated in Rome, and Leonardo as well as so many others, I couldn't possibly mention them all here.

Ponte Vecchio

As I said, we had a great view of the Ponte Vecchio and the river Arno from our room at the Excelsior hotel. The bridge that you see today was built in 1345 to replace a wooden construction from the 970's, and that one was to replace one that may have gone back to the Romans. As with other medieval bridges, like in London, the new fourteenth century one had houses and shops all along it. By the sixteenth century the bridge was home to the butchers who were evicted to make way for the goldsmiths. Vasari had built Cosimo's passage above and the duke kicked the butchers out because he didn't like the smell. The goldsmiths have remained to this day, the whole bridge is full of jewellery shops attracting shoppers from all over the world. Apparently the most prestigious shopping location in Florence, the jewellers would not be moved even in 1966 by the flood which saw a fortune of gold washed away down the Arno river. Maybe it was just us, but it didn't feel that prestigious, it had the feel of a market and was dirty with lots of tourist tat being sold alongside the jewellery. Then again the location was pretty amazing so I guess that explains it!

We decided to split up from Richards parents and explore Florence separately, then meet up later at our hotel. After Richard and I had visited all of the museums, galleries etc that we had wanted to see, we thought that it was time to do some shopping. There were lots of the big name 'designer' shops in Florence, so we were more than happy. After clothes we found some time to look at some of the more specialist shops, in particular shops selling fine stationary. Florence is known for it's beautiful marbled paper, we bought some from Anna Anichini's shop in Via de' Bardi. You can buy the paper in single sheets or a variety of different books of various shapes and sizes. Anna Anichini binds beautiful books using the gorgeous handmade paper finishing them off with leather and canvas. Apparently the art of decorative paper making originated in France over 200 years ago. There are many shops selling these papers, the choice of colours and patterns is fantastic. It goes without saying that as we shopped our way round Florence, we made several stops for drinks and snacks. The choice of cafes is excellent, the Italians take their coffee drinking and snacking very seriously. Trouble is that once we sat down we found it hard to get moving again, as it was such a pleasure to just sit soaking up the sun watching the beautiful people going about their business.

All four of us had enjoyed a very full day but we wanted to make the most of our time in Florence, so even though we were all pretty exhausted we went out for dinner in the evening. The restaurant we had chosen was about a twenty minute stroll from our hotel. The walk was very pleasant as it felt like most of Florence was out and about, either going to dinner or just taking in the evening air. It felt very relaxed after the busy feeling of the daytime when there were hundreds of mopeds whizzing everywhere. The restaurant we went to was the Cantinetta Antinori, Piazza Antinorri 3, Tel: 055-292234. This restaurant is a showcase for the Antinori familys wines and other products, they are among the most respected wine makers in Tuscany. The restaurant serves snacks and full meals with the ambience of a fifteenth century palazzo. We had booked a table as it is very popular and does get busy. The service was impeccable, and the food was delicious, and as for the wine, we drank rather a lot and it was all excellent, thankfully we were only a short walk from our beds! I enjoyed my meal so much that I can even remember what I ate, Veal, and it was cooked to perfection. Richards mother had the same as me, I cannot remember what else we all ate but I do remember that it was all great, if ever we happened to be in Florence in the future I would definitely dine there again. The evening we were there, the whole place was packed out with many people being turned away, it wasn't hard to see why. We had enjoyed our evening so much that after a slow stroll back to our hotel Richard and I decided that we didn't want the evening to end, so we said good night to the old folk and headed to the bar. We were both quite tipsy from all the wine we had consumed at the restaurant, so I don't really remember anything about the bar or leaving it that night, I did have a very good nights sleep though! The next morning we made our way back home to our villa in Bracciano.

Lake Bracciano where our villa was located is one of Romes most popular places for swimmers. The area is very beautiful and clean. Situated around the lake are two other pretty villages Trevignano and Anguillara, both have medieval centres and a wide choice of eating places. As these were local to us we spent some very happy hours there, enjoying the views across the water and the odd ice-cream, well you have to eat some this is Italy after all and they know how to make delicious ice-cream!

SUTRI

One of the nicest ice-cream experiences we enjoyed was in the tiny village of Sutri. We had gone out for a little drive, and this charming place looked so nice we stopped. After strolling round for a while we saw a cafe that also served ice-cream. There was a huge refrigerated cabinet full of large tubs of every flavour imaginable. There were so many it was hard to choose, Richard didn't fancy any but the three of us all tucked into a small tub of the most creamy, fruity, soft, ice-cream ever, which we ate outside sitting by a soothing fountain. Sutri is situated between lakes Bracciano and Vico, and is famously old, supposedly dating from 1000 BC. Sutri was a strategic location for the Etruscans, and once again in the middle ages during which time it became a proper town after being rebuilt higher up for safety. There are remains of the ancient town in the Parco Archeologico Preistorico Paesaggistico (Open summer 9am-1pm and 3pm-8pm, winter 9am-5pm), you can see an ampitheatre that is carved out of the tufa that could date back to the Etruscans, and a cave church that was once a temple of the Mithras.