After our amazing experience in Orvieto, we ventured 45 mins up the road to Viterbo. For Jess, our stay in Viterbo was extra special because she had previously spent a semester there in 2008 "studying". I say "studying" because her assignments were basically colouring in activity books and partying with fellow international "students". Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. Jess had deliberately timed our stay in Viterbo to coincide with the Santa Rosa Festival -...

Our slow northerly climb through Italy continued with a stop in another Umbro city: Orvieto. Orvieto is yet another walled medieval city, nestled at the top of a massive hill. It's easy to understand why all these old Italian cities are located atop gigantic hills - back in the good ol days a city wasn't just a place to live, it was your whole life. And that included the need to defend your life and home from invaders. What better way to do that than to build a...

From the Eternal City of Rome we made our way to the calmer air of Perugia, a small walled city which retains much of its medieval identity. Having walked around the entire historical part of the city in just over an hour, we decided to do a little research into some of the other fun things we could do beyond the walls of Perugia and in the broader Umbria region. In the end we settled on something cool and typically Italian. No, it wasn't an afternoon siesta or...

Having completed the retracing of my family's footsteps, and feeling energised from my recent cortisone injection in the rear end, we were keen to return to our touristy ways and soak in some of Italy's most memorable sites. With that in mind, we made our way to Pompeii for a two day stint, and then to Rome for the remainder of the week.PompeiiVisiting the ruins of Pompeii was one of those moments where you finally come face to face with something about which you...

Just as we had retraced my Mum's family roots in Malta, I was keen to do the same with my Dad's in Italy. Dad was born and raised in a tiny little village called San Marco in Lamis, located in the Province of Foggia. Even though none of our family remains in San Marco in Lamis, I was determined to visit the town and nearby villages to get a feel for the place where Dad spent the first 13 years of his life.To do this we needed make our way to Foggia city centre an...