We chose to have breakfast in the fresh air looking towards St Peter’s Basilica in the distance. Our food attracted a lone wasp so we distracted it by leaving a few scraps of food on a separate plate which kept it entertained and away from my food.

Today was Mr C’s significant birthday and he chose to visit the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Before entering the Basilica, we enjoyed a refreshing drink overlooking the Basilica and the column of peace in the Basilica’s piazza.

The Basilica was peaceful with services regularly taking place in its various side chapels. I especially enjoyed the peace and tranquillity in the Pauline Chapel. I later found out from the guide book that Pope Francis places his apostolic journeys under the protection of an icon entitled ‘Salus Populi Romani’. He visits the icon before and after embarking on each of these journeys.

Within the church a special altar has been installed to house, amongst other things, five sticks of sycamore that were part of the manger that the infant Jesus was said to have been placed into. The wood has been scientifically dated to the time of Jesus’ birth.

We also visited the museum beneath the church and regretted not going on the tour of the archaeological area beneath the Basilica.

We had lunch facing the square. I chose focaccia filled with pistachio mortadella. It was the day for flying insects and my food attracted a hornet which pestered me. Again, I had to distract it by putting a small portion of food on a nearby table.

After lunch we caught the bus to the nearby Roman Circus Maximus which looked rather dusty in the afternoon heat. We then walked the short distance to Bocca Della Verita (The Mouth of Truth) which is a stone mask representing a river god.

After that we returned to the hotel to freshen up and cool off before having a celebratory glass of prosecco on the roof top garden terrace. We then walked the short distance to La Pentolaccia for our evening meal. The food was tasty, lemon chicken in my case, but the service was somewhat chaotic. We got chatting to a German couple who were also celebrating their wedding anniversary and his birthday. We got by with Mr C’s limited German and the lady’s limited English. This more than made up for the chaotic service.

We returned to the hotel’s roof top garden for a nightcap where we found the temperature had cooled to a much more comfortable level.

We woke up on time and left the Premier Inn. It was raining lightly (as it often does in Manchester) when we stepped out of the building.

After travelling to the airport, we checked our car into the meet and greet service which also gave us fast track through border control.

After checking in our luggage, receiving our boarding cards and proceeding through border control it was time to relax a little and enjoy breakfast. My breakfast, an almond croissant, was delicious but Mr C’s cooked breakfast was underwhelming.

We boarded the plane on-time but shortly afterwards the Captain announced that there would be a slight delay due to Air Traffic Control congestion. We took off 25 minutes late but the Captain was able to regain some of this time during our flight.

We cleared border control without any problems but the baggage reclaim was stressful. Some bags arrived on the conveyor belt and circled round and round without anyone claiming them but many bags did not appear. Just after Mr C’s case appeared (and was retrieved) some airport baggage handlers started randomly removing cases from the conveyor belt. Mine was one of them so we rushed to reclaim it.

Luggage retrieved; it was time for us to pick up our transport to our hotel. We were greeted by two Jet 2 reps who guided us to a place to wait for our driver. Eventually we were joined by a family who had been held up due to the baggage reclaim confusion.  Now that the travel party was complete, we embarked on a long trek up and down stairs and escalators before we arrived at the car park where our minibus was located. This wasn’t the end of our walking journey It was also a long trek across the car park before we arrived at our taxi.

Our journey to the hotel ran smoothly and our room was ready. We dumped our cases in the room and ascended to the hotel’s roof top garden for lunch. We chose to share a plate of charcuterie and cheese accompanied by focaccia. Whilst dining we were constantly misted with water jets fitted into the pergola.

Comfortably replete we walked into town passing a couple of lovely fountains, arriving at the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs. The church is beautiful and refreshingly cool inside giving us respite from the 90-degree heat outside.

Back at the hotel we showered to remove the afternoon’s heat before dining in La Locanda Di Bacco where I chose seabass accompanied by roasted rosemary potatoes. This was followed by a shared tiramisu which was delicious.

We returned to our hotel for a nightcap in the roof top garden.