To seek to discover the essence of a nation is one of the great pleasures of travel. For many, Italy is epitomised by the magnificent historic cities that transport you back in time to the Renaissance, with their narrow alleyways of ochre and honeyed stone, their incense-filled churches, their Michelangelos and Botticellis.
Pace these streets long enough and you feel as if the essence of Italianness has permeated your skin. But Italy has other faces that are unfamiliar, yet no less ‘authentic’. Indeed, in their refusal to conform to tourist-brochure stereotype, they may be more so.
