Tomb Raider: In Real Life
The Italian Job...
Ah, Italia. Land of art and romance, ancient history and marvelous architecture. I'd always wanted to visit Italy and in particular Venice, Rome and Florence, but never thought I'd spend over a month in total exploring the entire length of the country - and its islands of Sardinia and Sicily. Of course, the cities of Rome and notably Venice, feature in classic Tomb Raider games and Roman mythology was no doubt also an inspiration.
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From my first city-break trip, in 2018, to a month volunteering in Sardinia and my most recent return to the Veneto region, Italy has continued to surprise me. The awe-inspiring ruins of Pompeii could be a standalone game in itself, whilst Florence and even the historic centre of Bologna would make perfect city levels. And whilst Milan and Naples were not quite what I expected, other places completely lived up to expectations. Rome is an endless buffet of history, architecture, mythology, religion and art - almost overwhelming at times. Whilst Venice is the perfect example of a place that was literally everything I'd anticipated. And made all the more delightful by being one of my favourite locations from Tomb Raider 2, which also happened to feature perhaps one of the best original pieces of music for a computer game.
For this reason, I have chosen the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra version of the esteemed Venice Violins, to accompany my mainland Italy adventures.
An Island Escape...
Spending so much time travelling around Italy, I decided to make a separate compilation for my island trips. And more so because of the entirely unexpected finds on both Sicily and Sardinia.
First mention must go to the impressive Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples), an archaeological site in the Agrigento region of Sicily. It's simply a Tomb Raider's paradise, with outstanding examples of art and architecture from the Greater Greece era. Exploring the site, I quickly drew parallels with both Pompeii and Ephesus, in Turkey, for its sheer size and historical significance. And the fact that I snapped one of my favourite ancient site photographs, at the statue of Icarus (although not an original feature) outside the Temple of Concordia.
Sardinia is another hidden gem, with many untouched regions and its very own ancient civilization - the Nuragic people. They left behind unique megalithic structures, mysterious looking statues and most notably the intriguing Giant's Tombs. As I was volunteering at the time - and had no knowledge of the island's ancient history prior to my visit, I didn't get to explore many of the sites. But I did get a free roam around the ancient Roman-Phoenician site of Nora and the stunning capital city of Cagliari, with its own crypts and coliseum ruins - I would certainly return.
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For this set I chose the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's version of the original Tomb Raider 3 theme; as one of my favourite games in the series, the memorable music seemed suited to such noteworthy locations.