Today we arrived in the land of pizza, pasta and tiramisu, and I dread to think how my waist line will fare in the coming weeks. Time to break out those running shoes for some preventative measures!

Our most urgent task was to find a replacement gas bottle before we end up living permanently in a pizzeria with ample food and warmth available next to the wood fired ovens.  Several stops at various garages got us no further than learning the Italian word for gas bottle (bombilo) and how often to hoot when performing a u-turn. Lady luck had not forsaken us, but instead sent two Italian motorhomes to park up right beside us just as we were giving up. Chris has become a master of mime, and within a few minutes of performing the gas-bottle act to bemused Italian crowd we had an address of a gas company firmly in our grasp.

We managed to purchase a new 11kg bottle for €25 and refill our small blue Calor bottle for €12. Hurrah, our dinner options now include those of the non-takeaway variety. If you need gas in Italy you may struggle at service stations but try and find out if there is a ‘Liquid Gas’ supplier in the area.


The Stone Man

On we trekked to the nearby town of Bolzano. The MMM (Messner Mountain Museum) looks at man’s relationship withmountains. The exhibits are displayed on many levels, and at some point you will find yourself hiking up or down steep stairways. There is an eclectic mix of religious (mostly buddhist), artistic and spiritual displays. I felt inspired by the exhibits as they give an insight into the impact mountains have on humans which is, in many ways, unconnected to the physical world. A word of warning though, the museum does not accept any form of bank card so you will need the €8 entry fee in cash.

Ironically the mountain museum is parked right next to a municipal dump where a man-made mountain of old car tyres grows larger by the day. The strangest part of all was hearing the bhuddist meditation bells being imitated by the loud beeps of reversing rubbish trucks.