Who doesn't enjoy a ghost story over the Christmas period? If you’re looking for an Italian-themed spooky read then The Eleventh Gate by Rossella Cirigliano would make a great choice over the festivities. The action takes place in modern day Rome at a fictive museum in Porta Gaia, one of the many …
Discovering the Aurelian Walls in Rome
The Eleventh Gate by Rossella Cirigliano After almost two decades of living in Rome, I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I knew very little about the history of the Aurelian Walls (or mura aureliane in Italian), the old Roman defensive walls that have surrounded the city for almost two thousand …
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Living in Italy: the Real Deal
Our base in Pavia, which we were renting until we found a house to buy, was a flat owned by Giorgio and Franco. It was a lucky find. In the summer of 2007, we visited Pavia for a week to find an apartment for my six months study abroad and Nico’s sabbatical. At first, that week seemed as if it would …
Creative Writing Holidays at an Italian Pope’s Palace
Write Your Manuscript or screenplay on a Tuscan Volcano The notion of writing a novel or screenplay in Italy is not entirely a new one, as creative writing holidays have been around for a while and they have proved to be very successful. However, a creative writing holiday in a Renaissance …
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Authors in Tuscany
The modern human has many bohemian aspirations, living on a desert island just off the Caribbean, setting up an organic farm in Provence or guiding groups of ramblers through the Himalayas. However, for many, the notion of someday finding a quiet place overlooking rolling fields, dotted with cypress …
Escape to Le Marche, Italy
For the last four years I have been escaping to Le Marche to write my novels. You might think the tranquil pace of life in Amandola or Force is a world away from the historical civil wars, revolutions and chaos of China that are the subject of my books, let alone the China of today that is …