Author Archives: Sandy

It was a grey windy day in Rome but the 2000 year old Roman Colosseum still manages to look magnificent! It’s early June but the crowds of tourists are enormous at these key Rome sights. The queues to enter both … Continue reading →

Edit Here we are at the second highest pass on this pilgrimage, the Passo della Cisa. The sign has many souvenir stickers attached to it. Berceta, a town near the pass,was the home of Ferrari motor cars in the early … Continue reading →

Leaving our Ostello this morning at Cassio for more hill climbing up to the 2nd highest mountain pass we’ll traverse on this trip; the Passo della Cisa, in the Appenines. Our destination today is the  Ostello della Cisa, which is … Continue reading →

Looking back onto Fornova from just one of the many climbs we made today. A well maintained roadside shrine. We’re in spectacular but hilly countryside. A beautiful colourful garden path caught our eye. This plaque tells the story of the … Continue reading →

Leaving the wonderful Hotel Astoria this morning. How lovely it was last night to enjoy our bottle of Proscecco while watching the men’s singles finals at the French Open on BBC. So sorry Andy Murray lost. The Municipal buildings. Our … Continue reading →

Signage from Fiorenzuola was very poor – it would be easy to get lost without an online or offline map. As we walk through Italy we are struck by their national obsession with security. Seems everyone’s property is fenced, have … Continue reading →

Breakfast in the well set up kitchen in last night’s Refugio. We were almost the last to leave this morning. The parts of Italy we’re in don’t look like they’re flush with money. There appears to be a lot of … Continue reading →

Leaving Orio Litta we found this beautiful mansion – not yet fallen into disrepair! Approaching the area where we are to wait for the ‘ferryman’ to take us across the River Po, as in the footsteps of Sigeric the Serious … Continue reading →

Before leaving Santa Cristina E Bossine this morning we took a look inside their church – it’s very ornate and beautiful. Such an ornate interior in a poor rural town yesteryear would have been symbolic of the power of the … Continue reading →

We ate well at this tiny Asian place, run by a Chinese family last night – enjoying generous serves of Japanese sashimi, sushi and dumplings. Our Refugio was on the other side of the river so this morning we had … Continue reading →