Stop, I can't climb any higher,' I explained. 'But I can't leave you here on your own,' our guide replied, 'there are bears and wolves in this area.' He assured me the view would be worthwhile, so I clambered up the last steps to Rocca Calascio, the highest fortress in Italy. And boy, was he right: from the top of its battlements, 1,500m above sea level, we could admire the peaks and valleys of the Gran Sasso National Park below us.

The Name Of The Rose, a medieval mystery starring Sean Connery, was filmed within this castle. I was in Abruzzo, one of Italy's last unspoiled regions. Halfway down the Italian peninsula, it is sandwiched between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic Sea. Most Britons I asked before my trip didn't know where it was.