The windows were always tucked away in darkness and so very hard to put a cat in and still be visible, so I put him on the front doorstep instead. He’s waiting for you Natasha.

To look at, the most distinctive feature for me was the strange flat seat with the hump, so I kept my eye out for one whilst wandering the streets of Rome. They weren’t as prevalent as I was told they would be. Scooters seemed to rule the two-wheeled streets, but I found a few and managed to make a sweet, 50s vintage-inspired postcard and I also used a similar illustration style for Toni and John’s wedding invitations and they even had one as a prop for their wedding photos. Congratulations guys!

I went there on my first day, just because I had time to kill and it was close to the Vatican, which was also on my list of places to visit the first day. I’m glad I looked it up because it’s down some fairly dreary backstreets and I would never in a million years have simply stumbled upon it. As you can see in the video, there are no chairs and tables, Anthony gets to stand and eat at the counter, but when I visited on a quiet Sunday afternoon, there was nowhere to stand or sit and the queue filed out into the street. I waited 20 minutes and shuffled closer and closer to the pizzas laid out in front of me. There were so many amazing flavours to choose from and they cut it off in hunks with scissors and weigh it to work out what to charge, which in itself is frightening and I think I did rack up quite a large bill because I wanted to try so many.

Once I finally had my slices of truffle pizza, vegetarian and of course ham and pineapple, I sat down on a little corner of bench out in the street and proceeded to eat three slices of the most delicious pizza I have ever eaten in my life, and believe me, I’ve eaten a lot of pizza. Words can’t describe this culinary experience. I won’t even try. Suffice to say, that a year later, I often think fondly about that moment as I go about my day and I vow one day to return for another slice.

I took photos of the Bonci pizza before I ate it, but they look terrible and so for Kylie’s postcard, I recreated the experience with some tricky ham and pineapple typography on a home made pizza. It tasted fairly ordinary. It reminded me why Kylie and Anthony hate ham and pineapple pizza so much. It reminded me of why one day Kylie really should go to Bonci’s Pizzarium and stand there for 20 minutes and eat it in the street just like I did. Thank you for the experience Kylie. Words cannot describe.

When I first went to see the mouth of truth, it was closed and the second time, I had to queue for quite a while as it’s clearly a popular tourist attraction. Everyone lines up and poses with their hand in the mouth and then a guard hurries you to move on. I almost wished something would grab your hand when you put it in the mouth, but unfortunately nothing does.

I had to line up for several hours, but it was a lovely day, and most people around me spoke some English, so it was a very social couple of hours. We then all shuffled, single file, through the treasures of the museum, again for another few hours. There are many amazing things to look at along the way, including some Francis Bacon paintings.

Eventually we spilled out into the Sistine Chapel and boy did I get a shock. I guess I should have researched it a little more, but the ceiling was a great deal further away than I expected, there were also a lot more panels of artwork than I expected. The famous God and Adam “finger scene” is just one of hundreds of paintings on and below the ceiling and it took me quite some time to find it, squinting and craning my neck upwards to see. The other thing I didn’t expect was just how many 1000s of people I would be sharing this neck-craning experience with. Apparently 5 million people visit every year. I believe it.

The most disturbing surprise was that photography was not allowed, nor was talking. So there were several grumpy guards who spent the entire time “shhhing” everyone and yelling “SILENCIO” and telling off anyone with a camera. I did notice several people taking sneaky shots with their iPhones, so I joined them, which accounts for the blurriness of the image in the postcard, to which I’ve added ribbons and banners where all the apostles are voicing their disapproval at the noise below them. I do hope Robyn doesn’t think I’ve been too Monty Python, but the postcard certainly encapsulates the experience for me.

I did find inspiration however, some several kilometres away at the Capitoline Museum where they have reconstructed remnants of a chariot and the raised copper panel friezes that went around the chariots were so beautiful and I knew then what I had to do.

The postcard itself is made from copper shim, which is thin enough to cut and bend and I hand-embossed a frieze of chariots and horses around the outside and then the text for CIRCUS MAXIMUS, which runs round and round a central line, in much the same way as the chariots themselves did. I finished the copper with a verdigris patina and lots of dirt, boot polish and metallic waxes to give it the same aged look as the copper skin on the chariot. I love how this turned out.

As we walked around, I tried hard to imagine all the amazing animal shows, blood-thirsty sports and poor people who died here, but without the floor, any wooden seating, and a large part of the wall, it really did feel like a ruin. All I felt like doing as we walked around it, was to whip out a copy of Ridley Scott’s film Gladiator and watch it purely for the digital rebuild of the Colosseum. I recommend you watch it the day before visiting, as a visualisation would really help to appreciate the whole structure more, but as for Rebecca? Well she only gets half a postcard I’m afraid.