Why Italy Is The Perfect Scene For A Supernatural Romance The Beyond Series

The first time I visited Italy, I travelled alone on a whistle stop tour of the country’s most famous cities and landmarks. I flew out to Venice airport and immediately thrust together with the other travellers and introduced to my female travelling companion Sarah, who was also single and travelling alone. I shared rooms with her on the tour as it saved money.  When I look back now I was so brave, but also quite skint. However, it was a great way to make new friends.

I took a boat taxi into the heart of Venice and I immediately fell in love with the place. The tightly packed streets winding a curving their way through the water thoroughfare was simply charming to me and I decided that this was going to be a destination my Beyond Characters in the book series would definitely be travelling to at some point in the books series.

We visited the Doge’s Palace, St Marks Cathedral, and The Florian Café to listen to the little orchestra play. The hustle and bustle of St Mark’s Square was incredible with the hourly chime from the bell tower the place was just magical to me. I had my first taste of Venetian gnocchi a rich and creamy sauce rather than the usual tomato based one. Oh my lord it was heavenly and I’ve been to so many Italian restaurants since and no one seems to know the recipe.

I loved all the little antique style masquerade and gift shops too and I fell in love with the Gondolier who sang Amore as he punted through the little canal ways, he was gorgeous and I do think I over recorded him on my holiday video!. So quaint and cute. I didn’t go over the bridge of Sighs until my second visit. I only had one day in Venice on my first trip and as I caught the taxi back down the Grand Canal at night, I looked up at the apartments in the grand merchant’s houses and saw chandeliers and marble walls adorning the interiors and decided there and then that Venice deserved another trip some other time.

I headed to Rome, stopping off at Pisa along the way. I didn’t go up the leaning tower as I suffer from vertigo at the best of times, but I did go into the little Baptist bell tower and I was fortunate enough to hear a demonstration of the acoustics in the place as a monk arrived and began this haunting Grigori chant which echoed and reverberated off the walls of the building. Very spooky and atmospheric.

 Although I didn’t think as a city Rome was a pretty as Venice, but it certainly made up for it with museums, coliseums and amazing Piazza’s. So we had the trip around the coliseum and the old Roman city, and though I find this history interesting, I do love the comparisons of then and now.







So like in Bath the historians give you images of how the baths and the town looked on video screens during Roman times so it makes it easier to visualise and compare the bare stones lying around today. Thankfully I did finally find a book that did just that in Rome, but until then I was struggling to visualise the past.

I saw the Castle of Angels where the Popes used to reside and the Piazza Navona which was once the Chariot racing arena of ancient Rome.

I was particularly excited about the tour company arranging a trip to the Vatican, which was just amazing. Incredibly beautiful inside with untold wealth in antiquities and the Sistine chapel was awesome. To think Michelangelo had painted the ceiling and all the cardinals from around the world would gather there to choose their new Pope.

St Peters was a pilgrimage for Nuns! That’s all I can say. The Cathedral was impressive, but I’ve never seen such a huge gathering of nuns, all dressed in slightly different versions and colours of their uniform from around the world crossing themselves, kneeling and praying and kissing effigies.

I was fascinated because worlds that I think are quite secretive and no-one really enters that secretive world unless invited or become a member. I’m like that with all secret societies, gypsies, Freemasons, Royalty, witches and vampire covens! That sort of thing. Exploring and learning about worlds I probably will never get the opportunity to enter really does feed my imagination.

The tour then took us to Assisi, where we saw lots of Monks, who had taken a vow of silence, just going about their daily chores. One actually nodded and smiled at me which I felt quite honoured that he’d even acknowledge the ordinary folk who sin on a daily basis! I just remember with Assisi that St Francis was from there, the monastery was dark and lots of cellar type chambers and a very steep hill to walk up. It nearly killed me.

I then headed out to Florence.

The Ponte Vecchio with lots of boutique shops piled on top of the bridge.

The Medici Palace was amazing. It doesn't look much from outside....

But just look at the decadence of the interior. Imagine that this was once filled with rich materials and sumptuous furniture too. The finest in Italy. A very powerful family of it's time.

Florence is beautiful and the Uffizi museum more than makes it a great city to visit, I saw all the greats, Michelangelo’s David statue, Botticelli, Raphael’s. Beautiful and I could have stayed in that vast art gallery all day. We walked over the Ponte Vecchio bridge with its little shops and I ate in the main Piazza  della Signoria





Naturally Florence did also end up in my book Vampire Sorceress as Amethyst and Galleano self-indulgently had a flying tour of Italy. The Medici Palace was amazing and I think I managed to cram a lot into that day, but I still think Venice has the edge. I feel like I come home when I return to Venice. Maybe I lived there in a previous life!

So on my next visit we had another look around the Doge’s Palace, which was great thinking of the Borgias TV series, which absolutely loved. I made friends with some of the locals this time and they kindly sowed us around the real Venice, little winding backstreets with bustling bars and parties the tourists never normally see.





I was given a guided tour at 3 am and it was truly beautiful. So peaceful, our guide sat us in a gondola and we just soaked up the silence except for lapping water and the odd voice echo around the canals in Italian. Lovely.

We also took trips to Venice’s’ surrounding islands, Murano, famous for its glass blowing and amazing glass ornaments and chandeliers, Burano, famous for its brightly coloured fishing houses, Casa Nova’s House on the edge of the water and finally Lido. An ultra-modern island where the rich and famous live. It has its own beaches and trendy bars and we stayed to sunbath for the day and party on the beach at night. Needless to say the Lido beach party crops up in the latest Beyond novel - Lycan Lamia too. God I love Italy!