We left Firenze today which always seems to come with a fair dose of sadness as it is such a beautiful and stylish city which just gets into every pore of your being and no matter how homesick or frustrated you get, it's so hard to say goodbye to this magnificent place. As usual due to the luggage, 5 people and the Italian taxis never exceeding a 4 cylinder small hatch we got 2 cabs to the station. We had a chat to our driver and when I mentioned our family came from Coreglia Antelminelli - the Pelligrini's he gave us a mini history lesson on the Lucchesse commune and advised that nearly all names in Italy ending in ini are from the Commune Di Lucca. He also told me of a Dante poem which had a character called Antelminelli, so this is one to check out when I get home. A fascinating and enjoyable ride. Grazie Paesano We had a scare when we checked the train ticket as Trenitalia had it as Roma Termini to Roma Termini. We had 30 minutes before our train and a line to the ticket office 100 deep. I wasn't keen on waiting and traveling with kids and lots of luggage is massively stressful so I bit the bullet and chose to buy new tickets at the Biglieta Veloce (fast ticket) machine and chase the error up later with Trenitalia. The machine gives you the option to change your booking so I gave it a whirl and upon entering my booking ID the machine clearly showed our booking was indeed Firenze S M Novella to Roma Termini and the train number and seat and car numbers matched the booking so all was well and just another Italian "close enough is good enough" moment. We checked into a hotel around the corner from the Termini - Hotel Piemonte which is no Hilton but has an elevator, wifi, and best of all working air-conditioning which is priceless as it is 31 degrees here at lunchtime. It's very effective mainly as you could not swing a cat in the room. The elevator is welcome especially after 2 1/2 weeks of stairs. We tried the Termini for lunch and dined at a modern trattoria with a Scottish name I can't recall just now. It was appalling. Tarn went looking for a Rome bauble but came up snake eyes and had to settle for a glass angel. I don't recommend this part if Rome to anyone as it is pretty dirty, not overly well appointed with sights, and let's just say I wouldn't eat the Chinese food around here. It simply made geographical sense given the shipload of luggage. We just found out that the predicted earthquake for yesterday in Rome which would level the city hit a town in Spain and was a whopper and caused havoc more as it was shallow. so Mussolini's astrologer mate was on the right horse he just got the wrong meeting. Feeling very lucky now. Well it's our last sleep in Italy tonight and even the worst nights sleep will be better than tomorrow nights digs - the dreaded economy class airline seat. Hopefully I can sneak a few more zzz's than on the way over. Tarn & I browsed Tripadvisor to find somewhere decent for dinner. We came up with Mamma Angela's which averaged 4 1/2 stars over 60 reviews so we decided to head off there. Mum & I ordered lasagne, Tarn ordered cannelloni, Charlotte chose gnocchi and Grace who swore never to eat carbonara in Italy ever again as long as she lives chose carbonara. Our meals all arrived and Tarn's cannelloni had an uncanny resemblance to a mixed salad. After several attempts to get the waiters attention whilst he went about arguing with other staff it seemed the original waiter who took the order bereft of a notepad and instead chose to rely on his intellect forgot the order. The head waiter lovingly threw Tarn's meal down when it finally arrived with only a sneer for any semblance of an apology. How dare he be bothered by a customer. Unfortunately the service was the highlight of Mamma Angela's and as we passed on deserts the manager who was English tried to make it up to us by delivering Limoncello with the bill. Nice touch but if your service is pathetic and the food worse the only good Limoncello will do is kill bacteria from the food and save you the embarrassment of a dose of the squirts on the flight home, All I can put the Tripadvisor reviews down to is that some person who had only ever dined on doggie doo and 59 of the manager's alter egos had submitted the plaudits. Made Maccas look like Rockpool. We then decided to finish off with a gelati and in this area gelatirias are as rare as decent service but we found gelati up near the main square here. Well the waiter here must have been sacked from Mamma Angela's as he was the biggest tool this side of the sphere and has the southern covered as well. We stood for 5 minutes where this blokes total interaction was to elbow me twice and sneer at me. We decided to forego the dolci but his boss asked if we wanted gelati and then got stuck into him for his behavior. We waited a few more minutes whilst he argued with her and we then were served by his lobotomized co-worker whom the other pinhead had a verbal stoush with mid order. So my advice if you are on a food odyssey for Italian cuisine go to Lygon St or even better somebody's Nonna's, and whilst the produce may not be as optimal as some of the gear hear they will actually give a f**k about the meal and your enjoyment - and it's a damn side cheaper. Ciao from the eternal city.