“It was amazing; we loved it. The Dolomites was a real highlight, as was getting up early in Venice, which was crazy busy, and going to St Mark’s to see the sunrise when there was no one else around, and sipping Aperol spritzes ’til late at night.”

Husband Stuart relished sitting in the piazzas of tiny villages, eating and drinking with the locals. “It was really cool and ticked all the boxes,” he said. “There’s still a bit of friction around air travel but the joy of being in new places is still there.”

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As a result, Italy is currently celebrating a record-smashing 316,880 Australians visiting during 2023, the highest number in a single year since records began. And there seems to be no end in sight to its increasing popularity, turbocharged by the hit new Netflix series Ripley, filmed in Italy, the Sicily season of White Lotus and the last James Bond movie No Time To Die, with its final shot along the panoramic Torre dei Crivi.

“I was recently at a roadshow which visited Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and I asked agents about what a great year we were having, and they said bookings were continuing to grow,” said Emanuele Attanasio, country manager, Italian National Tourist Board Australia & New Zealand. “There was no end in sight.

“I think a lot of Australians went to Italy a few years ago, and ticked off boxes like Rome and Florence and Venice, but then realised there was so much more to Italy, and that it’s so easy to get around, with a great rail system. So now they’re returning to visit Milan and the lakes and the Amalfi Coast, and immerse themselves in the culture, and visit friends and family.”

That’s certainly true for Sydneysider Fabio Vivan, 47, who’s also just back from visiting Milan and Bologna and is already planning his next trip. “I love to visit my family and my friends there and I love the culture,” hairdresser Vivan said. “The climate is good and the people are happy and it’s easy to travel anywhere around Europe.”

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This boom in travel is being seen as a new golden age, with the bounce back in global capacity and new capacity announcements from airlines like Jetstar, Singapore Airlines, China Southern and Delta.

The airlines and airports with the highest number of aircraft seats available are also the ones seeing the best rates for passengers. As well as those top five destination fare falls, ticket prices to the UK have dropped by 18 per cent, to China by 17 per cent and to Singapore by 15 per cent.

But some things have changed, Walley says. Now there are fewer flights out of Sydney to the east coast of the US, with some American airlines and Virgin Australia axing its routes.

“Also, the type of aircraft being used has changed, from all the double-decker A380s pre-COVID to the 787s that are far more fuel-efficient, and cheaper, but don’t carry as many people,” Walley said. “After the pandemic, we saw fares going sky-high, but now they’re coming down as we’re seeing more capacity.

“People are now travelling as frequently as they did pre-pandemic, but they’re staying for longer, in both leisure and business travel, or a combination of both, and looking for immersive experiences.”