It’s the first of August, I have not been in Italy for almost a month now, and the summer holidays are about to start for most Italians. In a fortnight, on the 15th of August, it will be Ferragosto and I don’t have to be in Rome to know that everywhere you go these days, signs …
Fifteenth of August, the laziest day of the year. Even more than at Christmas, the whole country is at a standstill. Shut down by that one holiday, Ferragosto, which for many Italians means the start of the summer holidays. The whole of Italy shifts down to the lowest gear. The whole of Italy horizontal for …
On this Sunday afternoon in April, I pull my thick cardigan a little tighter around me as I sit at my writing table here in Rome. Outside, there’s a heavy thunderstorm and bright flashes of light are quickly followed by loud thunderclaps. The rain is pouring down from the sky. However much the sun has …
Rome is empty. Under the burning sun, the Italian capital feels quiet and deserted, the streets abandoned. When I took my cousin – who had been here in Rome with me for a few days to have a taste of la dolce vita – to the train station last Friday around five o’clock in the afternoon, this …