A woman has visited the Italian villa from where her grandfather once ordered targets to be bombed in the Second World War.

Charlie Clarkson, 87, from Bradley Road in Silsden, lived with five other RAF men during 1945-6 in a grand hilltop house near Monselice in northern Italy once owned by the well-known Cini family.

He was posted to Villa Cini with the RAF Mobile Operations Unit as a radio telephone operator to direct pilots to bomb certain targets in Italy where the Germans had bases and ammunitions.

During the 19 months he lived in the six-bedroomed, four-bathroomed house with a ballroom, Charlie and his team would man the lines 24 hours a day in shifts.

When he wasn’t working, he would walk the 4km down to Monselice town and back.

Afterwards, Charlie came home and married Doris in 1949. Now, over 60 years later, his granddaughter has visited the villa her grandfather has never since returned to.

Musician Heather Blades emigrated to northern Tuscany in Italy with her family three years ago and has recently been to investigate whether Villa Cini still existed.

To her delight, she found it was not only in one piece, but had been donated to the church and used as a refuge for recovering alcoholics.

Although it was private, after showing the caretaker some of her grandfather’s old photos of the grounds, she was allowed to look inside, and was even shown a secret passageway that led into a panelled room and offered two escape routes.

Mrs Blades even attempted to reproduce the same photos her father had done 64 years earlier.

Her mother and Charlie’s daughter, Margaret Simpson, said: “Incredibly, nothing has changed. The photograph of the fountain shows how it is still the same after all these years, and also the grass steps with the urn planters. It is particularly poignant to see my dad’s great grandson, Charlie, named after him, standing and walking in exactly the same places along with his sister as my dad did all those years ago.”

Mr Clarkson said he was surprised his family was able to visit the house all these years later. He said: “I didn’t think they would be allowed up there. I was interested to see the photos. The house was beautiful, as is Italy, but we were there in difficult circumstances.

“I had a responsible job, and not a nice job really because you got to know the pilots and if they didn’t come back you felt as if you’d sent them there.

“The Italians received us well. They were pleased when the English arrived.”