The best butt in Italy

Standing before Michelangelo's sculpture of David at the Galleria dell Accademia in Florence, I learn an interesting fact: the best view is not from the front, but from behind where, we are told, the bench seats have been strategically placed so visitors can sit and gaze in awe at David's magnificent bum.

"David has the best butt in Italy," announces local tourist guide Madeleine Fakhouri, who refers to the colossal nude as her fiance.

Dressed in the Italian style I like to call studied nonchalance, Madeleine artfully pairs a Louis Vuitton handbag and Gucci scarf with jeans and brown leather sneakers.

Related: TOUR AT YOUR LEISURE

Our group circles David as Madeleine points out the incredible details Michelangelo used to give life to the figure: the heart-shaped pupils that add darkness and fire to David's eyes as he stares down Goliath, the raised veins in his lowered right hand that indicate anger; the furrowed brow; the oversized hands that become more balanced as you change perspective.

We pass David's much-admired behind and stop to look at him from the other side. Madeleine points out the graffiti and the `butterfly tattoo' on his muscular right thigh.

"So, now you can see why I don't have a real fiance. I come to the museum at least twice a day and I see this incredible man," Madeleine says.

She looks over the top of her glasses and gives one last considered look at the sculpture.

"Can you imagine David in jeans?" she says, mainly to the girls in the group.

Afterwards, we walk along winding medieval streets past Michelangelo's house on Via dei Bentaccordi to the Basilica di Santa Croce, where the great Renaissance artist attended church as a child and was buried facing the tomb of Galileo.

The placement of the tombs is significant.

"Italians like to think that as one genius died, another was born," Madeleine says.

Genius and madness go hand-in-hand in Italy. Priceless works of art, such as Lorenzo Ghiberti's bronze doors adorning the Florence Baptistery, float away or get damaged in floods. Deranged men attack Michelangelo's marble sculptures with hammers. Belltowers lean dangerously sideways but construction continues for hundreds of years. And teenagers invent tiny plastic cars with 50cc engines to get around the national driving rules.

Earlier on, I saw one of these `toy cars', as they are known in Italy, with its side raked off by an unforgiving tourist coach at the wedding cake Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II near Rome's main shopping strip on Via del Corso.

It's unbelievable that f14-year-olds are allowed to drive the things through the chaotic streets of the capital.

I had come to Italy on an eight-day Trafalgar At Leisure itinerary taking in Rome, Florence, the towns and vineyards of Tuscany and the World Heritage-listed Cinque Terre on the coastline of Liguria.

Like all Trafalgar holiday guides, Roberto Astirita is brilliantly informed, turning what might have been a routine walk or coach ride into an insider's view of the place.

On the first evening in Rome, Roberto takes us across the Ponte SantAngelo spanning the Tiber River to the Castel SantAngelo. Thanks to the film Angels and Demons, we've all heard about the secret corridor called the Passetto di Borgo that links the Castel with the Vatican, and want to see more.

We drive to Vatican City and, on the way, Roberto motions to look to our left. There it is the ancient escape route for popes disguised as an arched wall. We continue on to St Peter's Square and, as we pull over, Roberto peers up at the Apostolic Palace.

"Ahhh, the Pope is in!" he says.

Two illuminated windows on the top floor signal the presence of Pope Benedict XVI. St Peters square is deserted. It's just us and the pope.

The next day, local guide Paolo Romaniello takes us back to Vatican City to see the museums; the restored (and far more colourful) frescoed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; the massive interior of St Peters Basilica; and the headquarters for ancient Roman gladiatorial conquests and general brutality, the Colosseum.

Surprisingly, women could be gladiators too and a mosaic on display inside the Colosseum depicts two females fighting a tiger. But most of the Cararra marble that once lined the VIP seats on the first level has gone, pilfered by marauding tribes and recycled over the ages to create other buildings.

It's a common theme: Italy is both old and new. In fact, Italy did not exist as a country until 1861.

For 1300 years after the fall of the Roman Empire, foreigners ruled many Italian regions and its city-states were often at war with each other.

I'm surprised to learn that Pisa was once an independent super-power with a navy that dominated the Mediterranean, and the Tuscan cities of Florence and Siena were archenemies that fought countless battles with each other during the Middle Ages.

The most famous of these battles - the crushing defeat of Florence by an outnumbered Sienese army in 1260 - is still remembered today in the form of the Palio, a shambolic and colourful horse race run around Siena's Piazza del Campo twice each year on July 2 and August 16.

The jockeys are mostly from Sardinia but are paid huge sums by Siena's competing contrade (neighbourhoods) to get their horse first across the line - with or without a rider.

It's November and the madness is over for the year but a meandering walk through Siena's back streets reveals the symbols and patriotism of the 17 contrade.

In the south-western corner is a little church with a frescoed snail above it. This is Chiocciola (snail) territory and images of the mollusc are everywhere, even on a baptismal font in front of the church of San Paolo where newborn babies are dunked and declared snail citizens for life.

Behind the Campo is Siena's main shopping street, the Banchi di Sopra, where you'll find Nannini cafeteria. This is THE bar, where all the locals go.

Despite the complicated ordering system (pay first, then order), I finally get a macchiato and the richest piece of almond-and-hazelnut chocolate cake ever.

From my bar stool I can see well-dressed couples and a man walking two exotic dogs stride past. You could spend all afternoon here just eating and people watching.

Further up the road is the Church of St Dominic and the spooky-looking relics of St Catherine, the patron saint of Siena.

The church is where Catherine came to confess and her preserved head and finger are now kept on display (at a distance).

Like Siena, the walled city of Lucca was once a rival of Florence. We go there at dusk when the light rain and soft lights give it a Christmassy feel.

There's not a lot of time to spare so we hurry past the designer shoe shops on Via Fillungo to the Anfiteatro Romano, Luccas oval-shaped piazza that dates back to ancient Roman times.

Terraced houses look down on the piazza and four low archways mark the point where gladiators would once have entered the arena.

The shoe stores are beckoning but there's a magical quality about the amphitheatre that stops us from leaving. Maybe it's because people have been living in and reinventing this space for thousands of years, yet it still retains part of its original form and charm.

A lot like Italy itself.

IF YOU GO

• Emirates Airlines flies daily from Sydney to Rome via Dubai for about $2552 economy shoulder season return including taxes. Fares from Melbourne are about $2533. Visit: www.emirates.com

• Qantas flies from Sydney to Rome via London for about $2735 (Red e-deal) economy shoulder season return including taxes. The same fare from Melbourne is about $2774. Visit: www.qantas.com.au.

• Prices for Trafalgar's 10-day Flavours of Italy At Leisure first-class tour start at $2850, based on an April 29, 2011 departure date. Discounts apply for early payment. For more information, details of other tours or to download a brochure visit www.travelatleisure.com.au.

The writer was a guest of Trafalgar Tours and Emirates.