Cinigiano, Tuscany. Few places in the Mediterranean have been as comprehensively studied by archaeologists as this Tuscan commune. On the lower slopes of Monte Amiata, close to the Ombrone valley it is the Tuscany most visitors never see. Gloriously rural, rolling hills and dales, with new vineyards. Archaeological field survey here a decade ago showed no settlement before the Romans. Then, a plethora of Roman sites appeared as everywhere in the Mediterranean. The Roman sites

The American University of Rome beckons me; my vacation is over. A week’s hiking in Luberon has been a blessed respite: gloriously protected landscapes both farmed and wild; lost 19th-century summer villages – bories; and, of course, food. Heading south I could not resist a small detour to visit the first deserted medieval village excavated in France, Rougiers. Excavated for a series of seasons beginning in 1961 by the grande dame of medieval archaeology, Gabrielle Demains d’