Rome and Florence in the footsteps of Rob Rinder and Rylan

Still there’s a lot you can do in seven days when let loose on the cities of Rome and Florence, especially when you’ve got comfortable accommodation, a plan of attack and all terrain trainers.

We began with a whistle stop tour of Ancient Rome and perhaps one of the most iconic structures in the city. The Colosseum is a thrill and such an incredible feature on Rome’s skyscape it’s almost unbelievable that it wasn’t considered of cultural significance until the 1990s. If you’d visited then you’d have been able to stroll in and instead of today’s crowds of tourists you’d have been met with the city’s population of feral cats who had taken up residence in the arena. The Colosseum has a lot to thank Russell Crowe for even if 2000’s Gladiator was mainly made on CGI with other scenes filmed in Morocco. Twenty four years since the original movie came out, Gladiator 2 is released in November and Crowe recently made a personal appearance at the Colosseum to promote it. I’m going to stick with Mary Beard for my classical learning however, and am planning to catch her fascinating documentary about the lives of the Roman emperors on iPlayer; tagline with absolute power came absolute paranoia.

For a bit of orientation we hopped on and off a city tour bus and from the top deck spied Vatican City and the many wonders of Palatine Hill. We learned about Roman architectural lasagne, with apartments built on top of a historic theatre. Metal decorations and inserts to buildings were often pinched to make weapons or to adorn other buildings, especially churches. The place is a living museum; drainage put in by Agrippa 2000 years ago still works to this day, and discoveries continue to be made - a white tent set up at the exterior of the Colosseum marked excavations begun three weeks earlier.

We stayed in the Grand Hotel Palatino, which we found to be a comfortable and friendly base for exploring the heart of the city. With smoothies made to order at breakfast and a beautifully refurbished room in muted tones with a sleek bathroom, it provided everything we needed for our Roman holiday.

The popular adage that all roads lead to Rome has caught us out during previous attempts to explore the city on foot. This time we were in luck. With a rough idea of where we were going we headed off on an early morning run in search of the Via Appia Antica, and not only did we find a most interesting section of the ancient route, which connected Rome to Brindisi in the south east, it was the first Sunday of the month which meant free entry to mausoleums and monuments along the way. With burials banned within the city walls nobles honoured their dead on the Via Appia and three miles from the start of the route we found the Tomb of Caecilia Metella, a high-ranking woman whose family had served under Julius Caesar. One of the most well-known and best preserved monuments, previous visitors to this huge round mausoleum include one Lord Byron who references it in canto 4 of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Perhaps we really are getting this Grand Tour right after all. Writing poetry could be next. But before the muse could take us we had to leave Rome behind.

Just like Lucy Honeychurch in EM Forster's novel, our room in Florence came with a view, of the Duomo and its neighbouring bell tower. We wondered why they had left earplugs by the side of the bed - had someone phoned ahead from Rome to warn them of the infernal snoring? But it was for the bells, which rang out at 7am. No one in that city needs an alarm clock.

Our lovely home from home Hotel Calzaiuoli had a bright breakfast room where the willing staff made coffee to order, but there’s no restaurant as there are just so many places to eat in this foody city. From tavernas to trattorias there’s a dining spot for you, but perhaps the place to try first is the glorious Food Market where the finest meat, veg and fish is on sale on the ground floor while upstairs there are dozens of cook stations to satisfy your every culinary desire. This is a good spot to try Florence’s most famous street food, thought I confess that I didn’t because I am borderline frightened of tripe. If you are brave in your first stomach, you can sample the cow’s fourth stomach which is served casually in a roll.Suitably fortified we were ready to take on the artistic might of the Uffizi. The Renaissance art is located on the first floor of the building where the masterpieces are hung in chronological order. The corridors linking the rooms displaying the paintings are lined in Roman statues, which the Medicis picked up with enthusiasm, a collection which in turn benefited the Renaissance artists who used them as models. Botticelli, Titian, Michelangelo, each glorious canvas is more awe-inspiring than the last with The Tribune being a reminder that the Uffizi is a work of art in itself, an octagonal room with a mother of pearl and red lacquer ceiling designed for Francesco 1 to display his favourite pieces. There’s a separate queue for viewing it, sadly. There’s a heck of a lot of queueing on a visit to Florence and apologies spontaneous types, the key is to book ahead.

For a different perspective of Florence we wanted to go up the Duomo’s bell tower, or Campanile, begun by Giotto and finished in 1359. Covered in white, green and rose Tuscan marble it glitters in the morning light. Like all the attractions in the city, you’ve got to book and collect your tickets in advance which is a bit of a pest until you get the hang of it and then it works really well as you have a timed slot and you know what you’re doing. We wanted morning light for our photos so climbed the 400 steps at 8:15am.The medieval stone arched bridge that spans the Arno, Ponte Vecchio is a must see, even if you have to use your imagination a little bit. It’s the only bridge in Florence that was spared from destruction during World War II and is noted for the shops built along it. Shops on bridges was common with butchers, tanners and farmers selling their wares. Today its all high end jewellers so a little bit of the magic is lost.

You can find Michelangelo’s David at the Galleria Dell’Accademia and if you need a break from the crowds go green and head to two of the city’s beautiful gardens. Boboli Gardens which extend from behind the Palazzo Pitti are the better known but we loved the neigbouring Bardini Gardens (you can get a combined ticket to see both), especially its glorious wisteria pergola.

Since our return I see that Rylan and Rob Rinder have also joined the Grand Tour bandwagon with their new TV series, giving us another chance to relive our adventures in Italy.

Rates for a double room at Grand Hotel Palatino in Rome start from 189 Euro. Rates for a double room in Hotel Calzaiuoli in Florence start from 470 Euro. See https://www.fhhotelgroup.it/en/index