Had a wonderful time - despite the heatwave - if you're travelling to Italy in the next week, plese remember that it's HOT, HOT, HOT, and Rome is incredibly humid. However, our hotel had a/c and we slept comfortably. Did a tour of ancient Rome with Enjoy Rome (www.enjoyrome.com) which was excellent. They also arranged our accommodation (Hotel Castelfidardo, Via Castelfidardo - about 10 mins walk from Termini), so if you're looking for somewhere to stay on a budget you could contact them. On Elba we stayed at the Hotel Crystal (www.hotelcrystal.it) in Portoferrario which was fine - although if I was going again I'd try the Villa Ombrosa because it was the same price but with nicer views. Moved on to Marina di Campo for some lounging on the beach - got a gorgeous apartment from a local agency www.agenzialatorre.it. Lazed around in the sun for a couple of weeks then back to Rome for two days and home to Dublin. If you've any questions ask away!

The heatwave should be over. Today it rained in Tuscany, temperatures are 3-4 ?C lower than yesterday in Milano and the rest of Italy goes along a similar scheme.

ter2000 - how was Hotel Castelfidardo in Rome? Was it in a relatively safe area?

Tell us more about Elba, I'm always curious about the various islands. How were the beaches? The food?

We have family on Elba and stayed there last year. Is there an "unsafe" place there? I would not have thought that from our extensive exploring. The beaches are wonderful and you can swim, snorkel or just relax. We were there in off season so I expect they get really crowded. The time we went out to eat were wonderful. Simple pizzas and fish and inexpensive wine. What a place!