More to enjoy in Emilia-Romagna
"Come," said the gallant knight, "let us survey this fair city while all are slumbering." So the princess left her bedchamber and followed her lord up spiral stair and wooden ladder to a terrace at the very top of the high tower, where lo, the city of Bologna lay spread below them, and stars twinkled over far peaks.
OK, the knight was my husband, and there was no starlight because a sudden autumnal downpour was signalling an end to the mid-30s summer heat. But though I was in pyjamas (not a silk nightgown), we had no worries about meeting anyone, for we had all 12 storeys of 900-year-old Torre Prendiparte to ourselves. No wonder we came over all medieval. Built as a stronghold in the 12th century by the powerful Prendiparte family, this is one of a handful of 100 original towers still standing in the ancient heart of Bologna. It was part of a seminary in the 1500s, and a prison in the 1700s, but today it is a super-romantic holiday let.