To stray in spirit better through the land/ This morn of Rome and May," recommends Robert Browning’s poem Two in Campagna. Or for €5, in whatever month, one can take a train, a day-return from Guidonia to Tiburtina.

First stop for Romeward journey is Bagni di Tivoli, bringing home how this often-neglected hinterland was part-and-parcel with Rome's urban centre. Those variously-sized segments of smoothly-cut travertine visible from the carriage window are the same material that Emperor Vespasian had elephanted in for his Flavian amphitheatre/ Colosseum. Another instance of how all roads lead to Rome.