There was something about the pure white lights festooning the narrow streets and broad squares that I found infinitely moving - the atmosphere pervades the soul, conversely both uplifting and melancholy, a sadness perhaps of numbered days and the end of a holiday drawing in - either that or just too much Prosecco.
The colours of Italy cannot be recreated anywhere else in the world - a single street of anonymous buildings becomes a work of art.
Topping the Capitoline Hill, Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio spreads out magnificent and omnipotent, a masterful display of design that overcomes the irregular space with such finesse that its irregularity all but disappears. In the centre is the Equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius - a copy of the original that has been housed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori since 1984. Both copy and original are the finest of equestrian sculpture - the horse's head here seen against a perfect blue December sky. Interestingly Michelangelo was opposed to the statue being housed in his square. The original is also one of a few ancient bronze statues to survive the Middle Ages, when they were typically melted down for the bronze, or destroyed by zealous Christians. It is thought that this statue was believed to be of the first Christian Emperor Constantine, and this is why it escaped.
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