Here you can see photos of the school itself, pictures of some of its past pupils and a current English class who showed us their wall display about the history of Britain. It was unfortunately not possible to get all of our Italian hosts together on one photo, which is a great pity, since the level of hospitality and friendship shown to us throughout our stay was almost overwhelming! We had extensive tours of this beautiful town and the oldest hall in the Library was opened up especially for us so that we could see its most precious treasures. Here you can see us in the Headmaster's study with our huge pile of presents, (we are the ones sitting down) and outside a restaurant at the end of our stay. Most of the teachers had had to rush away to a Parents' Consultation on the Saturday afternoon before we thought of taking a photo.

We are really grateful to Gigliola for inviting us and several of her colleagues to her home for a banquet of local delicacies - and of course the chance to meet her two dogs Black and Nero as well as the elderly cat who keeps them in their place. We felt as though we had known Alessandra and Annalisa for years: they looked after us so well and it just isn't possible to express how everyone took us to their hearts without reservation.

We advertise the CICERO competition as an illustration of how a study of the Romans provides an opportunity for young people to meet their counterparts across Europe - but it is doing the same thing for their teachers as well! We will treasure our memories of our Italian friends and I am certainly looking forward to meeting the rest of my fellow-organisers in the not-too-distant future.

Anne Dicks