If you stand on Brühlsche Terrasse in Dresden, a few metres above the Elbe, with the art academy buildings and the dome of the Frauenkirche behind you, then walk down the Freitreppe and past the Hofkirche to Theaterplatz, which is surrounded by the palace, opera house and art gallery, you will constantly hear people exclaiming in different languages: “Just like Italy!”

That’s not so far off the mark, although the locals naturally consider such comparisons superfluous. Dresden is Dresden. Saxons, however, take a rather relaxed attitude to such associations – not for nothing are they known for their proverbial informality. Yet the Saxons can also be rather different. Cities like Leipzig and Dresden became symbols of the 1989 peaceful revolution. This was where the Monday demonstrations against the GDR formed and the protesters cried “We are the people!” during the dramatic days of democratic awakening that brought an end to an era of political repression, an era in which the state of Saxony had been wiped off the map for decades.