Heading to the Dolomites, we were excited about the skiing that lay ahead, if a little nervous about how the van's heating might hold up. But being so early in the ski season, the Dolomites had not yet had any snow, making skiing a little tricky to say the least. So we found a great little town called Merano, where we decided to wait a few more days to see if any snow might fall. All we really knew about Merano is that it's a spa town, with thermal baths boas...

Next we headed to Riva del Garda, up the narrow tunnelled route that follows Lago di Garda up its western shore. It turns out that the tunnels are round and Bertha is square, so there's little choice but to drive in the middle of the road watching out for headlights coming the other way. Riva del Garda is quite an upmarket town so it's not full of campsites, unfortunately for us. There is one, but with the fair being in town, the place was crowded. A quick tour...

Leaving Lucca, we ventured north towards our ultimate destination - the Dolomiti - for some skiing as soon as the season begins for the year. But with so much of the best that Italy has to offer lying between Lucca and the Dolomiti, we decided to leave plenty of time for the journey. And our journey north did not disappoint, taking in amazing food, fast cars, Renaissance art and beautiful music. Our first stop after Lucca was Bologna, touted as Italy's food c...

We have been in Lucca for two weeks, and day-by-day all the leaves have been falling from the trees. Now, the trees are almost bare and sitting here on a park bench on an overcast day, it's finally chilly. Winter is arriving, but we give ourselves away as foreigners by still just wearing our jumpers. We have spent two great weeks at Lucca Italian School and my brain is ready to explode. In two weeks I have learnt more Italian than in five years of learning Frenc...

Ciao from Lucca! Well we've been here for nearly three weeks, and on Thursday we finally move on from Lucca. Next stop - Bologna. I'm sure Bologna is wonderful, but I can't help feeling a bit sad at the thought of leaving this town. I love it here. Lucca doesn't have a "big" tourist attraction - there's no Ponte Vecchio, Leaning Tower or Colosseum. There's no single area that feels overcrowded with tourists, and there's nowhere that you get the impression Itali...