<p>backhand,</p>
<p>Sounds like you had a wonderful time of it in Italy. I, too, have spent time there (about five years in all) and it is probably THE haven for those pursuing art, art history, architecture, music and history! </p>
<p>There is also something about Italy, maybe a combination of atmosphere and culture, that gives it a timeless quality - a result perhaps of its antiquity and something that can only be had by the long, long journey of a civilization that once ruled the known world two thousand years ago, and can now bask in its glorious past. </p>
<p>To me it offers the reassurance that man, despite his seemingly endless capacity for getting it wrong, will still survive and will also have countless examples, made by him, to show how he got it right from time to time!</p>
<p>Will the same be said for the USA in the year 4000?</p>