North Italy

Stretching from the snow-capped mountain ranges in the north to the sun-baked beaches and scirocco-scorched towns of the south, Italy is an ideal destination for a road trip. It's yours to explore with Road Trips Italy, our redesigned and newly updated guide containing 24 wonderful drives across the country, from the quiet medieval town of Orta San Giulio and its island, Isola di San Giulio, to the moody, volcanic hillsides surrounding the city of Rome.

Before becoming the masters of the Mediterranean world, the Romans had first to conquer the Italian peninsula in a series of harsh conflicts against its other varied and warlike residents. The outcome was no foregone conclusion and it took the Romans half a millennium to secure the whole of Italy.

For centuries, Rome was one of the world's largest imperial powers, its influence spread across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle-East, its military force successfully fighting off attacks by the Parthians, Germans, Persians and Goths. Then came the definitive split, the Vandal sack of Rome, and the crumbling of the West from Empire into kingdoms first nominally under Imperial rule and then, one by one, beyond it.

Juliet Bremner travels to a small town in North Carolina, to meet troubled ex-soldiers enrolled in a Veteran Treatment court. A year on from the end of Mugabe's reign in Zimbabwe, John Ray returns to see just what has and hasn't change. And Tom Clarke visits 'Nemo's Garden' in Italy, where they're growing crops underwater. Could this be the future of farming in a world growing ever scarce of resources?