Heavenly Holidays

What do you do after celebrating a glorious English summer wedding? The world is full of possibilities. The only trouble is that the climate is often rotten in all those exotic places you have always dreamt of. Who wants to endure a tropical monsoon interspersed with stultifying heat? And all that organisation has drained you of energy. The last thing you want is to suffer the vagaries of long-distance travel, where you arrive at some alluring hotel half-dead with fatigue and without your luggage to boot.

Far better to choose somewhere nearer to home, somewhere that will cater for all kinds of taste. Newly-married couples will die rather than admit it but their tastes may differ more than they would let on.

Hours spent diving underwater ar not the best way to discover the inner thoughts of your partner for life really. And who wants to spend hours filming drowsy lions, when most of the carefully-crafted shots are ruined by all those other Land Rovers filled with newly-weds?

No, what you want is a trip to Italy, but a trip with a difference. The great thing about Italy is the variety that it offers. If you want to eat and drink to your heart’s content look no further. Every little piazza, with its picturesque palazzo and church, is a visual delight. Even if the language utterly defeats you, the Italians remain the most friendly of all nationalities. And if you dare to utter a phrase in your best Mediterranean accent, they will take you to their hearts.

Once you have established that Italy, with its overtures of amore and bella figura is the place to go, the question is how to make this holiday something really special that you will remember for the rest of your life. This is where you need inside advice of course! Be guests at the Villa Cimbrone in Amalfi – they’ve literally just had a swimming pool installed in their wonderful private gardens. Stay in Florence and hire a vintage car for the day to go wine tasting in the country.

Explore Milan for two days, travel to Lake Como and then take a sea plane to Venice. Hire a vespa and ride through Rome just like Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday. Spend a few days travelling around Sardinia on a 1920s motor yacht. Take a helicopter to one of the beautiful Aeolian Islands such as Panarea. Arrange a private visit to the Sistine chapel in Rome or St Mark’s in Venice – just the two of you. Avoid self-catering holidays or travelling for days – you’ll have time to do that in years to come!