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Forums, fountains and festivals - July 10

I always feel that visiting Rome is like coming home. I know I've probably been watching too many Gladiator movies, but then again there was Respighi's Roman Fountain and Pine music long before Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd went at it with their chariots and before Audrey Hepburn joined Gregory Peck, looking immaculate in every chaste scene. For the rest of us mortals visiting Rome feels like being an extra in an ongoing epic. You just join the parade and marvel at the surrounding structures. We saw the Castello Sant'Angelo with its famous Angel Bridge (for Dr Who fans - don't blink!). Our walk then took us to the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain (always a must!), the Forum and Coliseum. Somehow it works best on foot, unless you steal a ride on a lambretta while dreaming of Greg and Audrey...

Rome's ghosts walk with the living through every street and passageway. One visit and you know you have to come back to the Eternal City. A wonderful place for a honeymoon - unless you insist on being eaten by wild animals on safari!

So, on to the festival... picture if you will a villa, a lake and a band drunk on the sights of Rome by night. Emotional, unforgettable, unbeatable Roma... with such a warm reception from all our wonderful friends and supporters.

Written on parchment bearing the seal of Quintas Arius himself, we're now on the road to Savona, or rather winging our way through the air with that wild ancient landscape stretching out below...