Travelling to Mugello this morning, we went truffle hunting, in search for ingredients for tonight's dinner. We visited Cafaggiolo castle, a Medici summer home, for a tour and fancy lunch. We then travelled to the beautiful city of Florence for a guided tour of its magnificent outdoor sculptures, Ponte Vecchio, and the Duomo. Following a bit of free time, we went for dinner, where we received a cooking lesson and assisted in the preparation of our meal using the truffles found that morning.

The Medicis were a family of Florentine bankers who grew to enormous wealth and, in turn, great political influence. Cosimo il Vecchio, popular among Florentines, unofficially ruled the city and spent much of his wealth patronising the arts. His descendants eventually came to officially rule all of Tuscany, and three members became Pope, but the family's history is riddled with scandal, tyranny, and murder, points all overlooked by the saintly portraits hanging on the castle walls.

The tour provided a full day in Florence free to roam as one pleased before returning to Siena in the evening.

I, however, slept.

Returning to Rome, we went on a guided tour of the Vatican Museum, marvelling at its wondrous collection of art, including the astounding paintings of the Sistine Chapel. We used our free time in the afternoon to explore the Colosseum, and visit the old Forum, Piazza Venezia, and the Pantheon. Operatic entertainment was provided at dinner before spending our last night out on the town as a group.

The Colosseum stands in what was the busy centre of Rome. After the city's fall and sack at the hands of the Visigoths, however, the population of Rome dropped from the millions to about 30,000. The people moved away from the ruined city to the reclaimed lands of the Vatican Hill. The old city was left to ruin, and many hard-to-find materials scavenged over the centuries. The Colosseum stood slowly crumbling until Pope Pius IX commissioned to have it preserved. Today, it stands as one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and symbols of its glorious past.

This was my extra day in Rome, and I spent most of it exploring the marvels of St Peter's Basilica, from Michelangelo's Pietà, to Bernini's Throne of St Peter, to the Vatican grottoes beneath. I visited the mausoleum of Augustus before meeting a few tour members for dinner. We climbed the Spanish Steps before departing Rome for the last time.

St Peter's Basilica is built over the burial site of St Peter, the first Pope of the Catholic Church. On the site, originally a swamp, was the Circus of Nero, where thousands of Christians were martyred. St Peter was buried at the side of the circus in a makeshift graveyard. In 324, Emperor Constantine commissioned a basilica built on the site, which would later be replaced with the current basilica, completed in 1615. The obelisk in the centre of the square used to stand in Nero's Circus, and was one of the only things St Peter could see during his crucifixion.