Rome: Castel Sant'Angelo

Tourists walk along the bridge to Castel Sant'Angelo

One last place we visited before leaving Rome was Castel Sant'Angelo, or the Castle of the Holy Angel. It has a very interesting history and also construction, that at one point in time was the tallest building in the city.

This was originally Emperor Hadrian's mausoleum

We got there in the late morning and didn't have to wait too long to buy tickets. From then onwards visitors follow the arrows to cover most of the building.

Originally it was commissioned by Emperor Hadrian to be a mausoleum for himself and his family, which is the cylindrical part of the complex. It was built between 134-139AD.

His ashes, stored in an urn, were placed there in 138AD, along with his wife and first adopted son, as well as other emperors who succeeded him. It is believed the urns were placed in now what is known as the Treasury Room.

Then in 401, the building was converted into a fortress, with walls added around it, as well as a moat. There are some interesting defensive architectural details, such as trap doors and such for protection against invaders.

Popes turned it into a castle for their own use

There is a legend that the Archangel Michael appeared at the top of the mausoleum, sheathing his sword that was interpreted as a sign the plague was over in 590, which gave the castle its present name.

And so at the top of the tower is a large bronze statue of the Archangel Michael, looking as if he's about to sheath his sword. He has the best view of Rome, and a fantastic view of the Vatican.

This is important because in the 14th century, popes took over the structure and converted it into a castle. For example, Pope Nicholas III connected the castle to St Peter's Basilica by a covered corridor called the Passetto di Borgo.

Paul III built a rich apartment in the castle, and visitors can see his living quarters. While his bedroom may look modest, the room next door he entertained in was very lavish. It was completely covered in murals with gold leaf, while the Papal insignia was created out of marble in the floor.

St Peter's Basilica can be seen clearly from the roof

The Papal state also used Sant'Angelo as a prison, and executions were done in a small inner courtyard. For those who love opera, the castle is the setting for the third act of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca -- the eponymous heroine leaps to her death from the castle's ramparts.

We went through the castle almost room by room, up and down stairs, and saw lots of empty rooms, but also others with examples of swords and canons, as well as armour. Visitors are finally rewarded with a view from the roof, and it's a stunning panoramic view of the city.

The Archangel Michael unsheathing his sword

It was a tiring over three-hour tour of the place, but it was well rewarded with blue skies and dramatic clouds. Very memorable!

Tuscan Trails: Lucca

The cathedral in St Michael's Square

Lucca is a charming town that still has its three- mile circumference city walls intact, much like Xian. And like the Chinese city, people can bike around the city walls, as the ones here are like a promenade complete with pebbles and trees.

The walls are quite thick, and the Romans made it into the best army base; it never really had to defend itself nor was it heavily destroyed during World War II.

Composer Giacomo Puccini

In 5 AD Lucca was the capital of Tuscany and in 1250 it was one of the richest towns in Europe, as merchants had to pass through this town. However it quickly lost its influence when Florence became strong in textiles, thus attracting talent, technical know-how and power.

As it gained strength, Florence also began conquering other towns except Lucca, which managed to become independent. But Lucca also managed to specialize in silk, in particular weaving gold thread into it.

These days it is best known for making shoes -- particularly sewing the leather uppers, which is why there are many shoe shops here and places to buy leather goods.

One of the most famous people to come from Lucca is composer Giacomo Puccini. Apparently his music is the most played in the world, with songs from La Boheme and Turandot. His childhood home was pointed out to us, and we got to see that he probably had a good view of the church in St Michael's Square, the centre of the town.

Along the top of the city walls of Lucca

The facade of the church is embedded with many images and messages for the common people on how to go on the path to purity. On top of the church is St Michael with a spear to kill the devil.

Somehow the town of over 80,000 people has over 50 churches. Our guide explained that during Roman times, the Romans did not get along with the Christians and so the churches were in a corner of the town. But soon afterwards they proliferated and many of the churches are in buildings that don't necessarily look like a typical church.

Many pilgrims come here to see "the Holy face of Jesus"... it is said in the Bible that Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross and prepared him for burial. He was Jewish and could not create icons of God. But he had tried to sculpt Jesus' face and left the work unfinished overnight.

Can you see the graffiti from the 13th century?

Somehow the face was completed while he slept, which suggests it was done by an angel. It was proclaimed to have a "perfect face" that looks Syrian, with dark hair and narrow eyes. Unfortunately we weren't able to see it for ourselves; and on September 13, the residents celebrate the Luminara, the day of the crucifix, where the town is lit with candles and there is a procession to the sculpture.

In any event our guide wanted to point out that even in the 13th century there was graffiti on the walls. Graffiti is an Italian word that means "scratches".

We were then led to a square that was actually oval because before it used to be an amphitheatre and over time it lost its use and people modified the space into other more practical things, like a marketplace in the 1830s. Today it's a "square" surrounded by restaurants and touristy shops.

Some enticing buccellato in the pastry shop

Our guide tried to continually tell us that even though Lucca is an ancient town, it is still alive thanks to the inhabitants. And we liked wandering the streets and could have done so for a whole day.

To snack on, the best known food here is buccellato, a bread that is slightly sweet.

Mid-Autumn Open Air Concert

The Mid-Autumn moon at midnight over Terme di Montecatini

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival will be a memorable one for me.

First of all I brought to Italy some mooncakes from Hong Kong to celebrate this special event with my parents and their friends.

I brought both the highly prized egg custard mooncakes from The Peninsula, andd also traditional ones from a place in Fanling where the baker may retire any time now.

After a dinner of rustic barley soup, swordfish and tiramisu, we tucked into some mooncakes and then headed to Terme di Montecatini to listen to a gala evening of music.

The beautiful setting for tonight's concert

The spa itself is gorgeous -- built in the 17th century, it has painted tiles on the walls, frescoes on the domed ceilings and marble columns and floors. The property is large and spacious, and off to one side are the actual waters -- Regina, Rinfresco and Tettviccio to name three of the six that come out of taps.

With the full moon slowly rising above, we sat outside in the open air to watch a concert featuring four opera singers in an exercise in musical diplomacy between Italy and Russia, or more specifically Montecatini and St Petersburg.

It seems ironic the concert is happening now with the current conflict in Ukraine, but perhaps that's what music does -- trying to bridge political gaps through mutual interest.

The fantastic tenor and soprano with the conductor in between

Nevertheless, it started off late, well after 9.30pm and then there were the translations of welcome messages from the Montecatini mayor and a Russian representative in Italian, English and Russian, so the concert didn't actually start until after 10pm.

Half an hour later there was a 15-minute intermission which made us wonder what was going on. But it seemed like many of the locals were there to socialize and didn't mind the early break.

Following the intermission was when the concert really came together and the audience was rapt by the performances of the tenor and soprano in particular. The other soprano had fallen ill and the conductor called another to replace her yesterday. She did a fine job.

The conductor even sang a few lines in a duet with the substitute singer which was amusing. It was also impressive that he could speak in the three languages relatively effortlessly.

So who can forget a Mid-Autumn Festival with a full moon overhead and listening to the operatic works of Tchaikovsky and Puccini like La Boheme and Turandot in a gorgeous Italian spa?