ROMAN HOLIDAY

FAMILY HITS Reuben’s favourite

Cookery lesson at Verdura Resort, Sicily, with chef Gianluca Interrante, who helped the children produce a delicious three-course meal.

Ishbel’s favourite

Guided tour of the Colosseum with Fabio, a former archaeologist with an incredible store of information suitable for all ages and an exceptionally engaging way with children – even tired ones.

Beatrix’s favourite

Guided tour of Pompeii, including the faded but still beautiful frescoes (pictured, left) decorating miraculously preserved houses.

Nora’s favourite

Gladiator lesson in the 15-acre grounds (or in a room full of fabulous art, if it rains) of the Rome Cavalieri Hotel. Children must be seven or older to participate.

Adults’ favourite

A surprisingly good meal at the rather touristy Restaurant Suisse in Pompeii, which has a bread oven that looked – as the children immediately noticed – just like the 2,000-year-old one we had just seen… because, essentially, it was.

enormous red prawns from nearby Mazara in a syrup of Ribera oranges. Sicilian food is incredibly varied, thanks to various invasions, and the Romans showed up there, too. So we ended our taste of Roman times with… a taste of Rome, at Il Consiglio di Sicilia in the village of Donnalucata, where food writer Roberta Carradin and her chef husband prepare pasta with courgette, olive oil and garum – the spicy fish sauce that was the ancient Romans’ flavouring of choice – served rather fresher than the desiccated remains preserved at Pompeii.

This progression from past to present happened often and made the trip feel truly Roman: a march through foreign territory where each victory leads on to the next. For me, a victory came on the last day, when we found all four children gathered around our laptop, rapt, as they watched the chariot race from Ben-Hur.