July 16: Italia - Verona & Siena

One of the things I love most about life is the way we are all able to stumble on a hidden treasure when searching for something else. It's almost as if we are being given an adventure within an adventure. Usually these moments occur when our guards are down and our expectations low. We are distracted by what lies on the horizon. Then seemingly at once, people, places and moments come out of nowhere and touch us in a way that makes a deep impression, lasting within us long after the initial meeting fades. And before we have time to stop and give thanks, the moment has vanished, and we are on the march again. En route to Rome and Florence, I visited Verona and Siena, and wish that somehow I had lingered longer inside their Roman walls.

I went to Verona knowing very little about it - save for the fact that a girl called Juliet had once stood on a balcony and called out for her love, Romeo. Her balcony still exists there. It's very easy to find and is very popular with those in love. A small archway leads off from the Via Cappello to Juliet's house. Inside this archway are a million messages of love written on both walls. Lipstick kisses, lipstick love hearts, names etched onto crumbling brickwork plaster this colourful tunnel of love, which leads down to the courtyard of Juliet's house. It's a push and shove to get through, but I did and even added my own offering to those already written in ink, Karlo & Chica - whoever Chica is, was and wants to be.

Further south, in between Rome and Florence, is Siena. This has to be one of Italy's best kept secrets. Medieval and Renaissance buildings sleep standing up through winding streets that wriggle and wander across the hilltop town. Facades of homes seem ready to crumble into dust at any moment. Wooden shutters keep out the glare of the sun. Not a breath of wind can be found in any street. But high above the terracota rooftops, the tall and thin Torre de Mangia keeps watch from the sloping and spacious Piazza del Campo. The Cathedral of Siena is just as impressive. You could be forgiven for thinking you had stepped back into ancient Egypt. Rows of black, white and golden hooped pillars rise up to glittered ceilings far out of reach of mortal thoughts. On the catherdral floor reads a mosaic, Suscipite o licteras et leges Egiptii.

It is a quarter past three on a very hot afternoon in Siena. The air is dry and hot. The streets seem coated in a fine yellow dust. I am sitting in the shade of a park near the Porta San Marco, waiting for my bus to pick me up. I am off to Lazio, the surrounding suburb of Rome, to stay there for a few nights as I continue to explore Tuscany and the Italian capital. My bus is due in ten minutes. I look out onto the hills of Tuscany. How beautiful a place this is. The light is so different here, colours take on a more vibrant shade, and the air seems alive with energy - almost as if the earth is vibrating on a higher level. Almost as if a grid has been fired and suddenly we can all see beauty with a greater clarity. No wonder people fall in love with Tuscany.