Imagine you are 20 years old and have been away from home for two or three years. Now add the fact that you are abroad for the first time and surrounded by other young men. When you put it like this it appears inevitable that thousands of soldiers used their Second World War deployment in Italy to engage with the landscapes, towns, cities and landmarks win ways that are similar to post-war holiday-makers.

Using guidebooks, maps, photographs, diaries and personal memories, this illustrated talk will take audiences on a journey through wartime italy, offering an insight into the methods and motivations of a practice that is the complete opposite of wartime fighting, wartime tourism.