extremely lucky in this regard, even on our two previous shooting trips to England.

So how does a videographer shoot around tourists? If too many people are between camera and subject or site being shot,

the whole effort can be an utter waste of time. And also, unfortunately, Italian polizia and carabinieri are quick to tell a

videographer or still photographer to fold up that tripod and move on!! They do NOT have any patience with a foreign professional

photographer, so common sense and a little stealth are requirements.

For tourist-filled sites, we have found that shooting in very early morning works well for us. For one thing, Italy is a late-night

country, so there are few people (and that includes police) out on streets at first light. Typically, we would get to a site by 7 AM

each morning, shoot for a few hours and then return to hotel for breakfast: then back out into streets for more shooting.

The first part of our trip focused on Amalfi Coast where we filmed, in addition to some incredibly beautiful stock footage, a virtual

walk through Valle di Mulino (the Valley of Mills) above Amalfi, another through Pompeii, a third on Isle of Capri, from

Anacapri to Torre Damecuta, and yet another from Ravello to Atrani into Piazza Umberto.

The last two weeks of this trip took us back to Rome, where our focus was HD stock footage and Renaissance art - Bernini

sculptures and Raphael paintings claimed lion’s share of our time and attention. We spent much of our time filming Pantheon

(Raphael’s Tomb and occulus); Church of Santa Maria de Popolo and its Chigi Chapel; Santa Maria della Vittoria with

Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St. Teresa”; Fountain of Four Rivers in Piazza Navona; St. Peter’s Basilica and Square; and those

delightful Breezy Maniacs of Bernini’s along bridge to Castel Sant’Angelo.

We devoted a day filming a virtual walk in medieval town of Viterbo (just 1.5 hours by train from Rome). An historical note about

Viterbo - had John Paul II or Benedict XVI been elected Pope in 13th century, it would have happened here rather than in Rome.

Now a well-preserved provincial village, but in its heyday, Viterbo was Rome’s greatest rival!

Rome was more crowded with tourists during this trip than we‘ve ever encountered. Much of that could be attributed to pilgrims

flocking to Vatican in month following death of Pope John Paul II and subsequent election of Pope Benedict XVI.

We’ve also heard that more Americans are traveling to Europe this summer than ever before. Whatever reason, there were

visitors everywhere.

At end of trip, we were exhausted but satisfied with 20 plus hours of High Definition footage we shot along Amalfi

Coast and in Rome. There was an unfortunate incident with a French gendarme in Charles deGaulle airport, but that will remain a

story told within family!

Is a foreign shoot worth time, expense, and aggravation? I’ll give you a resounding yes on that one - but with a caveat: pack an

extra dose of patience and a big heart, and both will be rewarded many times over!

Perhaps one of biggest drawbacks to rail travel (at least outside UK) is that it can be remarkably difficult to find information and actually book tickets. The large majority of travel agents no longer sell rail package deals and companies such as EuroStar have little information available once they get you as far as Paris or Brussels. In fact until very recently there were very few websites where anyone could gleam information about train journeys, times and bookings. Luckily there are a number of sites available now with a plethora of information such as Seat 61 which - despite being run as a hobby rather than a business – is a tremendous resource for anyone wanting to plan a foreign railway journey.

Domestically in UK short weekend breaks on train are becoming extremely popular. Be it a shopping trip to Glasgow or taking in a west end show in London, package deals which include two nights accommodation and rail tickets are becoming more available. Recently travel and rail companies Superbreak and GNER have teamed up to provide short break package deals to five UK cities – London, Leeds, York, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Prices are competitive and they provide a real alternative to driving to these destinations on crowded motorways.

Certainly this renaissance of rail travel is surprising to an extent. With advent of budget airlines making air travel more accessible and price competitive many felt that this would be one competitor too many for rail industry to remain an active part of holiday market. However, it would appear that rail holidays have certainly found their niche and are likely to remain an active part of UK travel market for years to come.

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