Nicola, from Albania, has been painting the kitchen in Casa Galilei and will also be painting Casa Marconi in a couple of weeks when the next lot of guests but one leave.

His day job is as builder/painter/handyman/livestock looker-after for Rosina and she has been kind enough to loan him for a few evenings along with her own paintbrush. That paintbrush must have seen a few sights if Rosina’s love of vibrant colour is anything to go by…

Nicola has no fear of heights and hung perilously with one toe on a wobbly ladder before jumping up on top of the Rocca with a sheer drop the other side to remove a disgusting but inaccessible old cactus from the wall opposite Casa Galilei that had been driving me to distraction since I first bought the house five years ago.

He then expertly painted my kitchen over the next couple of evenings, aided by Luci his wife. Nicola has been in Capena for eleven years but could only afford to bring Luci and his children over to join him three years ago – a fact that Luci good-naturedly reminds him of at every opportunity!