What struck me most about this country was the compulsion I always felt to visit the big sights. Rome’s Pantheon, Venice’s St Marc’s Square and Florence’s Duomo to name a fantastic few.
On August 24th 79AD Vesuvius erupted. Pompeii, which by then had been an established town for well over 600 years, bore the full force of not lava, but pyroclastic flows.
Florence’s famous Medici family constructed an entire network of secret passages across the city to connect them to their residences, work and places of worship. Many take the form of tiny bridges that span narrow streets; barely noticeable at first glance.
I got an acute sense of time passing inside Rome’s Pantheon. Not only because it was built almost two millennia ago, but because its ancient architecture acts as a colossal sun dial.
Lille’s complex history is visible in the architecture of its prominent buildings. From the cobbled quarter of Saint André, to the tinted glass of the Euralille shopping centre, a walk through the city tells a story of constant evolution through the diversity of its façades.