When In Rome

With her thirtieth birthday on the horizon and her safe and comfortable life in Sydney outside her front door, Penelope Green decided it was now or never.

Undaunted by the fact she spoke absolutely no Italian, had no job, no friends and nowhere to live - and armed only with an Italian-English dictionary, irresistible optimism and a fair dash of bravery, she was determined to carve out her own slice of la dolce vita.

Both frank and funny, Penny tells how she plunged into the deep end of Roman life from her first giddy Vespa ride to daily struggles with the language and culture (not to mention a few lecherous locals), to seeing in her birthday with a kiss from her lover under the floodlit Colosseum.