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Ice-cream, lizards and baby pigeons

Siena in the sunshine.

There are some things that the Italians do very well - architecture for one. Brunelleschi's dome atop the Duomo in Florence is a stunningly beautiful and awe-inspiring piece of engineering. Everywhere you go in Italy, from mediaeval hill-top settlement to city, the ego and status of the patrons of the mediaeval architects hits you in the face - why else are there numerous towers in San Gimignano - it was a case of 'My tower in bigger than yours. Because I have more money than you, my wealth can buy me status and power and I can assert my influence by building the biggest tower in the town.' Pope after Pope built cathedrals, each one more magnificent than the buildings of the Pope before. If he had to fight for power during his reign, he was determined to leave appropriate evidence of his munificence for future generations to venerate him by. Everywhere in Italy, if you walk around looking only at those shops (bikini hunting with daughters, yesterday) and streets at face height, you miss most of the splendour. Always look up.

The architecture in Siena is a fine example of this lofty tourism-






















Littlest tired of being told to 'look up' and choosing instead to look down. Ideas for the patio at home?




Another thing that Italians are good at is ice-cream





And Italy has very good lizards. Littlest has spent much of the holiday making "nature pudding" for the lizards -




From lizards to pigeons and a question - do pigeon mums and dads shove the weaker chicks out of their nests? Human babies should maybe take note of nature - twice in our week here, there has been a desperate scrabbling in the guttering high above our apartment and fluttering of immature poorly coordinated wings followed by a sickening thwack as meat and bones impact concrete. Imagine that - eat the food in front of you, work hard, don't complain when mum and dad ask you to do the washing up, do well in your exams or ... it's a no return journey straight into a brick wall. Beats bribery!

But as an evening entertainment the Italian countryside could do better than bear witness to the hard-hearted euthanasia of pigeon chicks. 







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