Blue canals and rainbow washing lines and old bridges and gondolas and residents. Walking its sweet streets and treading its watery stairs, you find yourself in a trance of fascination. So much is preconceived and to an extent is the same as the reality, but it really is an experience to be in this unique place. It is a mesmerizing city, it is a colony; it is its own and no other is like it. And I love it for that. It knows what it is and doesn't try to explain ...

In Padova, the bustling and beautiful university town famed from the setting of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, our hosts were the lovely Jacopo and his Polish girlfriend Anna. We stayed 3 nights and were so lucky to meet such delightful people, they were packing up their entire flat to move out in a few weeks but were still fine to have us to stay—I mean who does that? Jacopo spoiled us with pizza and pasta and german beer, as well as giving us way too many...

Oh wowza, what a fat day. Literally. This was a really wonderful day. Amelia had organized to accompany us to Ravenna, to visit her sister and show us around the city for the day. We were truly given the grandest of tours by Antonella and her husband, who I am ashamed to say I have forgotten the name of, God they were the sweetest couple. I attempted a few Italian sentences, the randomest things keep coming back to me, like "Sono al verde" ("I am b...

Bologna turned out to be the unexpected highlight of our Italian tour. This was largely to do with the beautiful host we stayed with, Amelia, whose hostpitality, friendliness and just overall coolness made our stay so enjoyable and filled with great memories. We stayed here 3 days, the first night we were treated to homemade tortellini and an Italian Comedy show, it was difficult to understand but was still so entertaining, I was surprised at how much I got of th...

Firenze! What a city (despite the tourist overload). Such a short time spent here yet so much was taken in. Il Duomo was magnificent, so giant and majestic and perfect from every angle. Piazza Signorelli, Basilica something something, and Ponte Vechhio, with that line of jewellery shops that just dazzle you as you walk by. It made me think of Miss Johnson and Italian class, for some reason I always remember her mentioning it. The Uffizi galleries, with the legend...