News that will make a few on here happy.

On the Italy theme, my dad, despite being in a reserved occupation (miner obviously) volunteered in 1942 and served as ground crew in the RAF. He was mostly in north Africa and Italy. He was in Rome the day after it was liberated. He was also in Foggia appearing on this film. 59 seconds in he turns to the camera immediately next to Tommy Trinder right at the front.

 

They invented the cornetto but only made one

 

No but I got a shot of the sun rising out of the crater of Vesuvius......

 

Florence is my favourite city so far I think. First time I visited Italy the ice cream vendor wanted me to try his lemon ice cream, not to get me to buy it (I'd already bought one) but because he wanted me to enjoy it I think I might try Sicily or Sardinia next.

 

Brilliant! How'd you find that?

 

My mum told me that her friend saw it at the pictures in Thurnscoe, she went and saw the manager but the film had finished its run and was about to go the the next cinema. He cut a frame from the film which mum took to the chemists and had a print made. Back in about 2000 I saw it on the telly and wrote in. They told me it was in the Pathe archive which went into YouTube about 5 years ago.

 

That’s great! If you’re ever interested in doing a WW2 visit to Italy I can give the man to do it with. Frank de Planta does tours of Monte Cassino, Anzio and Salerno. Our course your father might not have been there. Can’t say I’m a battlefield tour sort of person but as my old man was at Cassino I had to do it. Frank is a genius. Took Mrs Statis who didn’t really want to go - she absolutely loved it and we’ve been twice. Not pricey and worth every penny. The other people you meet on those tours are beyond words. One old fella bloke showed me a very rough hand drawn map. He told me it got to him via a German prisoner of war who’d drawn it to show the exact spot by a river where his father had been killed at Anzio. He was going there the next day.

 

Dad was generally 10 miles or more behind the battle front, he was basically a labourer working on repairing runways on captured airfields. Before Italy he was in north Africa and after seeing the devastation in Beirut in the 60s and 70s told me how beautiful it was when he was there.

 

You've made me feel even more sad about the fact that I wasn't able to go back last summer, nor can I get there this summer either.

As you say, for what isn't really the biggest country, it has so much to see, with so many different pieces of the jigsaw.

We last went and stayed in Lake Garda, and I genuinely doubt I'll ever find a better place on Earth to spend a week in. Just unbelievable. Like the Lake District but on steroids and with the added bonus of nice weather.

I loved Venice for what it is, what it looks like, the history and what have you. Loved it. But my God it's so expensive. There's only Monaco that can beat it for expense.

I think I like Rome the most, just because like you said, it's so historical and there's so much of it to see. You need a few days just for Rome itself. But Florence is out of this world and I dream of a Tuscan life in my retirement days I think.

Was meant to do Amalfi Coast like I say, and hopefully will do summer 2022. But for this summer? Staithes.

Bit of a comedown, but hey ho!

 

That view from above the city, looking across and down at it - nothing like it. What a city.

 

My mate was going to a fancy dress party a few years ago and the theme was Europe.

"What are you going as?" I asked.

"A small island just off the south west of Italy" he replied.

"Dont be so silly" i responded.

 

Do we think Tekky(naphobe) is a bit jealous of how much attention Nudge gets in his absence and wants to feel a bit of it?

 

I've got two friends who went to Sardinia a couple of years apart and neither of them will shut up about it.

Also, the throat singing is intense.

 

Sorry for making you feel sad about it. I love travel and I can't begin to tell you hard myself and the missus are taking that. And how we get our heads around never being able to travel again if the covid immunity study from her drug regime doesn't give hope, well, my brain just can't compute that yet.

I've been to Rome twice. The second time, I loved it even more than the first. We managed to stumble on a day where you could visit the Palatine and that whole complex on a free day (every first Sunday I think) and I was just in awe. That so much still remains. An archaeological dig in the middle of one of the continents biggest cities and influential nations. You wander past a bit of Michaelangelo. A bit of DaVinci. Oh thats Nero's complex. And that bit there is Julius Caesars' ..... It's an absolute marvel.

And the only other places I've been that have similarly blown me away were Halong Bay in Vietnam, Petra in Jordan, Borododur in Indonesia and the Arctic.

I went to Venice on a day trip when I was about 10 and I recall my mum chuntering that she was charged just to sit down, and that would have been in like 1984/5. I'd sort of like to see it again, but I'm worried about the volumes.

Our last visit to Italy was Palermo and Cefalu about a year and a half ago and I loved it. No place in the world manages to do decay and neglect quite like Italy and still makes it feel like it should be like that and carries it off with a beauty. I'd certainly recommend Palermo for a few days. I can imagine it wouldn't be for everyone but it felt so authentic and had touches of arabia about it in places, very different.

And steady on, don't go criticising staithes.... you get pilloried for such things you know

There will be a day when dreams and whimsy aren't so forlorn. There will be a day.

 

Piazza Michelangelo. And just above it my favourite church - San Minato. Tiny and white tucked into the hill.

My favourite memory of Florence is being caught in a thunderstorm near the Ponte Vecchio. Running along we came to an alleyway then up some stone stairs that led to a small room that was some back street restuarant you’d never normally find. All they did was roast chicken and red wine. One of the best meals I’ve ever had.

I also remember being next to an English bloke in a restaurant who tried to make the waiters understand by shouting very loudly in English. Could have been TekkyTyke.

 

My favourite ever spaghetti bolognese was in Florence.

I'm not the person on this Trip Advisor review, but wholeheartedly agree!

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowU...54-Ristorante_il_Paiolo-Florence_Tuscany.html

 

love to go to Florence