Planning a trip to Rimini and Italy this summer. It will be really nice getting back to Italy. Last time was Milan and Lago Maggiore 6 years ago on a job trip. Now we have stacked up with travel guides, maps and history books making the planning as convenient as possible. One issue is what proportions there should be between sun and culture. On the other hand - in Italy you just have to turn your head a little to find yet another really old house or the tomb of some renaissance hero. From Rimini it is rather easy to get to Ravenna and Bologna and rather more work to get to Firenze. Tuscany may be worth a couple of days in a rented Fiat. I would also like to get to Assisi - the place where the Fransiscans started out. It is to the south. It is interesting that Italy became a nation in 1860 - it has a rather great reputation for such a short history. One might think that Lombardy or the two Siciles would have more history to make up a reputation but obviously the name of the nation has been the most important durign the two last centuries. Italy acually was a kingdom between 1860 and 1946. Good they dropped that habit. What is a king of Italy compared to an emperor of Rome or a pope of the holy catholic church?
