Next day provided what many considered the highlight of the entire tour, a visit to the five villages collectively called the Cinque Terre, filled with brightly painted houses perched higgledypiggledy on hilltops and stacked into ravines along 18 scenic kilometres of the Ligurian coastline.

Once the only means of transportation between these tiny outposts was the donkey, but today there are frequent trains along a railway line that clings to the rugged slopes and plunges through tunnel after tunnel below ranks of terraced vineyards and olive trees. The vines are planted, often in tiny patches of soil, almost from the water’s edge to 1,000 feet above the ocean.

Cinque Terre wine is highly rated by Italians and blends well with some of the unique dishes served by the many restaurants in the villages, although only the most dedicated students of the vine will recognize the grape varieties grown here. Drink it with the filled pastas – a local specialty – focaccia, stuffed basil leaves or the farinata, a crispy pancake made of chick pea flour.

To truly appreciate these remarkable communities takeoneof the small local ferries that runbetween Monterosso al Mare, whose modern section has one of the few good beaches along this coast, and the delightful little town of Portovenere. It’s a 30 minute cruise along one of the most fascinating stretches of coastline in the entire northern Mediterranean.

It was in Venice that we discovered another unexpected delight. We took a 50-minute cruise across Venice Lagoon in a vaporetto – one of the city’s busy water taxis – to the island of Burano.

Burano lace is well known everywhere (but be careful what you buy, much of what’s on sale is made in the Far East) and while the women are tatting the men are fishing. Small fishing boats are painted in bright colours for identification and the terraced houses are painted in colours to match the boats. As a result, the kaleidoscopic streets of Burano dazzle in the sunshine. Peaceful and friendly, the island is much less busy than Venice itself but tourists have discovered this little haven and restaurants and bars have grown up to serve them.Walk around the streets and along the canals where the fishing boats are parked outside the owner’s home and you’ll notice that every front door is wide open and covered only by a light curtain to give those inside some privacy.

In Lake Maggiore, one of the beauties of the Italian lake district, just offshore there are four scraps of land called the Borromean islands. On one, only about 180 by 300 yards in area, Count Carlo III of Borromeo constructed a remarkable palace and a beautiful terraced Italianate Garden. The family still makes use of the palace, but one floor of about 25 rooms is open to visitorswho stroll its wide corridors and vast reception rooms admiring the antique period furniture, Venetian mosaic floors, fine 17th and 18th century paintings, magnificent Murano glass chandeliers, and marble ballroom. There are five 17th-century Gobelin tapestries in one gallery and a Music Room where the great Spanish guitarist Segovia once performed. Napoleon and Josephine are said to have stayed at the palace and Prince Charles and Diana had lunch there.

Italy, of course, is a country so endowed with attractions for the visitor, that a 12-day tour such as this can only scratch the surface. But Insight packed in generous time at what might be called the obligatory sightseeing –Vatican CityMuseum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s in Rome; Pisa; St.Mark’s Square, The Doge’s Palace and the Rialto Bridge in Venice; Michelangelo’s David and the gorgeousmarble cathedral in Florence; the endless vineyards of the north. A rich haul indeed in so short a time.

Continued on page 3...

Page 2

---