The school master went nuts. A new year had come and his city, Falerii, was still under siege with no end in sight. The other cities in the Etruscan federation had failed to heed the calls for help; perhaps they were convinced that Falerii, on cliffs 100 m above the river valley and with its stro...

Casal Palocco, a suburb southwest of Rome, was baptized Il Pianeta Verde (the Green Planet), and green it is. Part of the charm of this area is the sense of peace that one gets thanks to the mixture of trees and shrubs that were so thoughtfully planted about 50 years ago by the Società Generale I...

“Great project; imagine being able to get straight into Piazza Venezia on the metro.” “No. We must absolutely stop it destroying our archaeological heritage.” “It would be better to spend that money to link areas in the northern outskirts of town instead of in the centre where there is alread...

Florence’s “English” cemetery, which in fact has been owned by a Swiss church since the early 19th century, is smaller than the cemetery for non-Catholics in Rome, but no less evocative. Indeed, with its soaring cypress trees, this is the cemetery which inspired the famous painting by Swiss artis...

One of the quickest ways to find out about the world’s different cuisines in Rome is to visit foreigners’ groceries. It’s easy, it doesn’t cost more than a bus ticket there and back and it really does the trick. It’s wonderful to discover that with a ride from the historic centre to Termini train...

One of my fondest childhood memories is of arriving at my maternal grandmother’s home just outside Chester in northwest England and seeing her collection of horse-drawn Romany caravans, or vardos, lined up in the paddock. I remember them as being incredibly beautiful but somehow elusive objects t...

Earlier this spring, Claudio Scaramella, president of the Pro Loco (tourist board) of Palestrina, an ancient town 38 km southeast of Rome, brought off a coup he’d been planning for eight years. He succeeded in bringing world-famous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass (dubbed “the Indiana Jones of ...

1. Aldrovandi Palace eeee Exclusive pool called “La Ranocchia” near Villa Borghese. It has a poolside restaurant and bar and is shaded by palms. Space is limited. Daily 10.00-18.00. Mon-Fri e40, Sat-Sun e60, weekly e200, monthly e600. Via Mercati 11, tel. 063223993, www.aldrovandi.com. 2. Ca...

At the end of a very interesting tour of the castle of Bracciano north of Rome, the guide led the group to the battlements with a breathtaking view over rooftops and the lake. Looking down the brick wall of the castle, there were little cascading cushions of round-leafed plants here and there; n...