29 JULY 1972, Page 26

Nicholas ' s coffee

Sir: If Mr Owtram (Letters, July 22) thinks I go to Italy to drink black coffee standing up at a bar and discussing our relative inflations he is very much mistaken. I go for the glories of the Italian Renaissance and not to complain about the price of cappuccino, which is the best coffee in the world, if the most expensive. On the whole I found eating and drinking in Italy no more costly than in England and, what is much more important, the constant sunshine was free.

Nicholas Davenport Hinton Manor, Hinton Waldrist, nr Faringdon, Berkshire