Naples trip - first stop Grosseto

This is the first time we have visited the "Mezzogiorno"  - the name used in Italy to identify the south of Italy, and where, the northerners say, everyone is just too laid back and work-shy!  Here, on telling neighbours we were going to Naples, the advice was - guard your wallet!  We haven't managed to get there previously because we never seemed to see a favourable weather forecast.

Our train journey took us from Barga via Lucca, Pisa and Rome to Naples.  We decided to break our journey and stay the night in Grosseto, which is not quite half-way between Pisa and Rome.  Poor Grosseto - it took an awful beating from allied bombing in the war, and so it is a mixture of ancient and modern buildings.  It has Renaissance-era walls very similar to those of Lucca, but only about half of the perimeter remains.

We took advantage of our hour in Pisa to walk between stations, so we could again marvel at the leaning tower, and, pictured above, the River Arno

Newly arrived in the main square of Grosseto

Our walk around the city walls took us past the imposing old prison building, now the ministry of justice

Part of the walls, this bastion really was as pointy as this - it isn't just a trick of the lens!

On the way to the station, a better day gives the main square a brighter aspect ...

Pre-war, fascist-era post office with stirring statuary on the frontage

View upwards of the art-deco stairwell in the post office