At the moment, four big dark brown heaps are sitting in the sun. Walk past and you get a rich and fruity scent – rather like a good Christmas pudding.

(Heaps of leaves in case you were wondering…Find out more by clicking on the main headline title above !)

The only way you’re going to spend a day out in Rome – and have enough time there to enjoy it – is to go by coach.

Di Fonzo Autolinee run a terrific service from nearby Lanciano to the Tiburtina bus station just outside Rome’s centre. Catch the 8am service and you’ll arrive at 11am. A 100m walk to the Tiburtina metro station and you can be at the Vatican; the Colosseum; or the Spanish Steps about 20 minutes later. It’s a no-brainer.

(Read more about our day out in Rome – and see our snaps – by clicking on the main headline title above)

Up strikes the band. Up gets everyone to dance. Did you know line-dancing is a way of life in Abruzzo ? Babies learn how as soon as they can walk. Now, I’m not qualified to judge whether the line-dancing taking place before me in the middle of the road through Ascigno is step-for-step identical to the line-dancing you’ll see in some down-home stomperama at Alligator Joe’s in Amarillo – and it is a tad incongruous – but you have to wonder whether line-dancing in Abruzzo and the US developed simultaneously and spontaneously – or whether it’s just another Italian (or rather Abruzzese) import that’s taken America by storm.

(Line dancing in Abruzzo ? FInd out more about this sensational cultural crossover by clicking on the headline title above)