Pizza with that?

Italy offers an absolute smorgasbord of historical artifacts, architectural wonders and tourist attractions, but we can't leave without mentioning the fabulous food. Seafood tagliatelle anyone?

Pasta of every shape, colour and size can be found everywhere...

The cakes in the Pastecheria's window look as good as they taste...

And the fruit stalls in Rome were a picture...

Best of all, after Turkey, were the wonderful cappuccinos that cost just $1.60 as long as we didn't sit down in the cafe...

If you sit down the bill skyrockets to $3.00. It's a cultural thing, as is the pizza. The pizzas are absolutely fantastic - and cheap - but we didn't think to photograph one... which means that we'll have to go back.
We left Italy a couple of days ago. The rail journey along the Ligurian coast from Portofino to Ventimiglia offered a series of tantalising glimpses of secluded bays and cliff-hugging harbours as the train slipped in and out of a myriad of tunnels before finally bursting into the bright sunlight of the Italian Riviera and the glitzy resorts of San Remo and Imperia. The sea was always blue - impossibly blue - and it changed from cerulean to aquamarine and a hundred other eye-spinning shades as we sped from one bay to the next. And then it was Monte-Carlo, the Maritime Alps and the star-studded French Riviera. These are the playgrounds of the super-rich, where mere millionaires are a dime a dozen, but the heat has gone; the season is long past. The ritzy nightspots and chic beach bars of Cannes and Nice have rolled down the shutters and the glitterati have left their maids to lock up the villas while the captains refit the super-yachts ready for next summer.
We are visiting family for a week or so in Cannes but, knowing how much you would like to see a real Italian pizza, we're headed back to Italy next week. In the meantime a'bientot from a wet and windy Cannes: see you in Milan in a week or so.