One bloke did the work. His mate stood and watched for a while, then got bored and went for a walk through the olive groves.

With that air of doomed certainty that seems to attach itself to any dealings with state-run companies here, there was consternation when they discovered they’d been sent out with the wrong paperwork.

When we’re talking about how to make Minestrone, the great delight is that there is absolutely no definitive recipe. It’s one of the very few Italian dishes that’s genuinely national, but recipes vary from region-to-region; town-to-town; and family-to-family.

There are no old buildings in the medieval town of Cassino, an hour south of Rome. No historic relics. No sign of its great antiquity.

The town, along with its mighty Benedictine Abbey on the summit of Monte Cassino, was obliterated in one of World War II’s epic battles.