As most of our regular readers will by now know, I used to be heavily involved in motorsport for many years. Part of that involvement included racing in Italy for a number of teams and I still have many contacts in that sport.

Which explains what we were doing at a presentation of trophies of one such local event in a town close by. However, used to it as I once was, I cannot deny my surprise when I heard my name called out, this time to be presented with one more trophy - a very special one, certainly not connected with wheels. The local authorities presented me, on behalf of my family, with this gorgeous hand made statue "in recognition of the courage and determination shown by us in giving up all we had in Britain and coming here to set up house and business" in their midst. I'm not sure it's courage or foolhardiness they really should have referred to, but whatever, the trophy was much appreciated. (Mark)

"Mad as a March Hare", it is said. Well, Shasta, is no hare, nor is it March. Spring has been slow in coming and it is now April. However, Pippa's little rabbit, Shasta, was having none of it and took time off to enjoy the warm sun together with his friend Paco, the hunting dog. It's a well kept secret that they don't know they're supposed to be deadly enemies, and they spend hours playing together when pippa comes home from school. (Andrea)

As part of our riding holiday packages, I recently made arrangements with a nearby facility for our clients to visit a planetarium and sky observatory. The telescope was said to be "the most powerful public one in Italy and probably amongst the world's best ten". Being so high up in the mountains, we are certainly close to the stars! It was a very interesting experience and the panetarium (pictured here) together with the lecture given were most enlightening. Topped up with a pizza at a local granary turned restaurant, it proved to be a lovely night out. (Mark)