Off to church to light a candle to the saint of the autostrada

Today we checked out of Rome and embarked on the road trip. So much for the sim card we purchased in Melbourne for the trip as it doesn't allow the phone to be a dongle for the iPad. Plan B was to quickly purchase road maps of Italy and drop into Santa Maria degli Angeli, a very old looking dilapidated basilica to pray for assistance tackling the chaos of italian traffic.
Nothing of the facade of the basilica prepares you for what you find inside. More impressive to me than the Vatican, I hope my photos can do it some justice.
A short walk dragging our suit cases though Rome to europcar finds us sitting in a practically new Renault, very smart but all back the front. Blessed water sprinkled on the bonnet and Rosaries in hand off we go. Within a minute I find myself having to ignore the overbearing dominatrix lady in the satnav and follow my gut. The man outside the basilica had said that I looked Italian and today I found he was right, I can drive as crazy as any Italian Unfortunately the copilot has no Italian in her veins and spends the next to hours polishing the rosaries.
Okay time for Catherine to take over. The word petrified does not come close to what I was experiencing driving in Italy. I was already consciously having to breathe to avoid having a panic attack when we came to a screeching stop. Ambulances, police cars and a helicopter indicated there had been a car accident ahead. My anxiety levels went through the roof! After waiting an hour in the 30degree heat with my mind racing and imagining all sorts of horror for the person or people injured, we took off. Driving past the accident scene was terrible- a totally smashed up car that no-one could have escaped alive. James seemed to think it must have hit the concrete barrier and rolled a number of times. Shudder... So I was 10000x more anxious now. Did those Italians slow down after witnessing that sobering scene? Of course not. They were now running late so off they zoomed faster than ever cutting people off, using no indicators, and driving at speeds of 150k. James was driving fast 130k on average which is super scary when there is a line of massive trucks, on one side and a concrete barrier on the other. James says we all need to pray to Santa Balls Della Steel of the Autosrada to ensure we have a safe journey. Hope she looks on us kindly.
We arrived in Assisi in one piece although once we were on the quieter country road coming into Assisi Freya politely enquired 'Dad aren't you driving on the wrong side of the road?' James jolted into action as there was a car coming towards us and moved over to the right. Good one Freya! It's a steep learning curve for James but I'm very impressed. If it were me driving we'd still be in Rome and I'd be in foetal position.
We are going to visit the medieval village of Assisi early this morning so watch out for photos. We are having some problems with downloading photos so apologies for the text only blogs.