We had an easy start to the day (as planned) then headed off to Fabriano, the biggest town near here. We had decided that less is more and midday breaks were essential.

We first went to the market which was disappointing as it was the smallest we have been to and the fruit didn't seem to be as good . We then looked around the centre which is a triangular shape rather than the usual square. There was a nice Gothic arch (dating to 1255) the town hall (from the 14th century) and the 17th century clock tower, amongst a number of other historic buildings.

We then made our way to the Paper and Watermark museum which was our main reason for coming here. We had not realised that paper had been made here since the 12th century and that the paper for printing the Euro notes is done here today.

The museum was in a former convent. There was an inner courtyard with some displays, other displays on the ground floor and the tour finished upstairs. The downstairs part, including a video, went through the history of papermaking. When paper was first made in the area it was made from rags. The secrets of the process were restricted to people in the town and the paper was very like blotting paper so not used for anything official . Once they learned how to fix the surface the town became wealthy. The idea of and the method of making watermarks developed here. There was a man actually making sheets of paper the old-fashioned way and it had various watermarks on it also.

The general history of paper making was shown and then how it developed in Fabriano. Rags became hard to source during the plague and other areas made advances. But then the area revived, wood pulp was used and now there are a number of paper firms in the town.

The displays upstairs showed the early watermarks from the 14th century when they were used to prove the paper was genuinely made using the specified mark. In recent times they have become much more complicated, partly for security but also they have become genuine works of art. We also saw a room with cardboard furniture which was surprisingly comfortable.

We bought a rotisserie chicken on the way back to the car and retuned for a picnic style lunch and to have a break until 3.30pm. This worked really well as John was able to stay cool and I could still sit in the warmth for part of the time reading.

We then set out to visit the largest caves in Italy, the Caves of Frasassi. They are less than 30 minutes away and as the temperature is a constant 14 degrees are a lovely cool place . They have tours in English as well as Italian – and we were part of a group of 11. Thanks to Jeni Lemburg we again showed our Teaching card and got a discount. The parking place and ticket office is about 1 km from the cave entrance and you are delivered there by bus. Our bus to the site had 4 people aboard.

We found the guide and waited while she found the rest of the group. Then, (only in Italy), we had to wait for the last couple to finish their cigarettes. There were a lot of signs that said no cameras, the guide told us no photographs of any kind but the guy who had been smoking took a photo and then claimed not to know!!

The caves were amazing. They were only discovered in 1971when a caving group went down a crack in the mountain and felt a rush of air. They dropped stones and when it took 6 seconds for them to hit the bottom they knew it was a big cave. This proved to be the biggest cave in the system of 7, now called 'the Cave of the Wind’. It is 180m long, 120m high and 200m wide. The guide pointed to a small stalactite – then said it was over 2m high. The size of things is disguised by the size of the space.

There were the usual shapes pointed out as looking like a camel, a polar bear, a wise man and Santa – which (with imagination) they did. But the whole place was just wonderful. We saw a 7m stalactite that looked tiny as the cavern is so high. We saw new stalactites, called spaghetti, which are from 100 to 1000 years old and hollow, like drinking straws. We also saw blades – calcium structures that grow from the side of the caverns.

The guide went through the history of the cave development – basically the river carved out the land, the mountains rose, the sandstone eroded and caves resulted. This was helped by the sulphuric acid that is still found in pot holes and can be smelt in the outside area.

I especially liked the display they called mini Niagara. It was white crystalline calcite so very pure with a sparkle and really did look like falls, or fine wedding icing. We noticed that a lot of the stalagmites were flat on top. There was a lot of water lying in the bottom of the caves. In places the cave was 300m but there was 900m of rock above.

The guide told us that the lights in the cave are special non heat producing and turned off at night. There are a few creatures living in the cave, unusual because the food chain starts with sulphur feeders. The largest is a 6cm long creature like a lizard, but blind.

When we got back we ate the last of Nico’s sauce with some new pasta and the left over chicken. We had figs for dessert courtesy of Jane who had got them from a friend. When she said she had got figs I asked were I could buy them. You can’t – they grow like a weed and people just give them away!! We ate 6 for dessert, then sorted the blogs before heading to bed.