Note:
Readers Muse thanks the author for writing this interesting guest post.
The
places in Italy I’m in love with (that became characters in my book)
Writing All the Way to Italy felt a bit
like writing a love story to the country I had grown up so at odds with: no
matter how much I didn’t always want to be there, there were places that always
filled my heart, that felt (and still feel) like a healing salve. Writing a
book was a form of homage, where the setting becomes a character in itself. Here
are three of the ones I most treasure:
Baths
of Caracalla (Rome): Named after the emperor
Caracalla because he was ruler when they were finished, these gargantuan ruins are
some of the most overlooked gems of the city. Visiting them during the daytime
is fantastic, walking by them as the sun sets an experience you won’t soon
forget. But my most beloved? During the summer, the Opera di Roma moves here
for its summer performances, and it is life-changing.
Villa
Gregoriana (Tivoli): In the book, Little spends a
wondrous afternoon exploring this glorious park run by the awesome people of
the FAI (Italy’s National Trust). Lace up your walking shoes and go from the
ruins of ancient temples to exploring the waterfalls. You’ll come out feeling a
little more cultured and a little more wild; I can never recommend this spot
enough.
Palazzo
Donn’Anna (Naples): Sitting at the water’s edge of
this most colorful of Italian cities is a woman’s heartbreak holding fast
against the sea. Palazzo Donn’Anna has one of the most romantic, broken stories
in its past, and its poignant beauty against a setting sun is Napoli
personified. I’m not going to tell you the story because Betty tells Little in
the book, and wouldn’t you rather go read the book?! (Don’t Google! That’s
cheating!)
These three, especially the last two,
sometimes get passed over when people come to visit Rome, but I hope, when you
come to visit us, that you have the chance to let them transform your trip. I’d
love to hear what you think, or what your all-time favorite spots in Rome are—after
all, in Italian we say: Roma, una vita
non basta. Rome, one life is not enough.