I travelled to Italy for 10 days in October and November 2006. I loved every minute of my time there, from simple pleasures like drinking cappuccino every morning (and I am not a coffee drinker), to soaking up the country’s warm, lush light in the morning and at sunsets. It does make one think that Rome once ruled from Iraq to the Atlas Mountains of North Africa to northern England to the Black Forest of Germany and to the upper Nile of Egypt. And then, it collapsed. I hope to go back to Italy again.