This is a time when I find myself dreaming of Italy and all its sensual pleasures: eating carpaccio, drinking in the Arcadian frescoes at the glorious Villa Tasca in Palermo; the lingering smell of incense in religious processions;

and feeling the sun, creeping through vine-clad pergolas, on my face as I enjoy la vita tranquilla, with a glass of chilled Greco di Tufo, while looking out over the romantic ruins of Paestum. In other words, a complete fantasy of escape from the present darkness.