22 January 1944 And so we came to Palermo. A crumbling, pink-and-white little town where they sell oranges and almonds and mandolins and guitars, and very little else. Such an insignificant little town that even [more…]
Like many another Mediterranean city Naples looks better seen from a distance. Approached from the sea, preferably at first light, its beauty takes your breath away. Close up too much of it is an offence [more…]
It is a short walk from the twin towers, past the oldest house in Bologna, to Via Santo Stefano. For the most part the journey is under a colonnade of stone, cast in cool shadow [more…]
Day 12 – 2nd Monday – Corfu As we had sailed from Dubrovnik in Croatia to Corfu which is Greek we have had to put the clock forward an hour overnight to Greek time which [more…]
I am trying to learn Italian. Mia Nonna was Italian from Florence and I am going to the Italian Riviera for my main holiday this June. I can make a reasonable fist of reading simple [more…]
Monday Good morning everyone from an extremely quiet London on this bank holiday Monday. I can normally hear lots of traffic noise and this morning there is hardly any. There is only a skeleton staff [more…]
The gliders wallowed behind their Heinkel 111 tug aircraft in the thin, turbulent air above the mountains. The lead aircraft sighted the long mountain ridge and the Gran Sasso Mountain behind it, gave the order [more…]
In the summer of 1943, the terrible reality of total war was the closest wolf to the Italian population’s sledge. Mussolini’s grandiose plans for a new Roman Empire that would stretch across Southern Europe and [more…]
Sunday June 18th – La Spezia – Italy I think dawn breaking must have woken me this morning. It was about 06:15 and we were entering La Spezia harbour. This is a first visit here [more…]
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