The Pantheon is one of my favourite buildings in Rome, one to which I always return in wonder. I wanted to make it a central character in this book, and to set the story at a time when few tourists see it - in the dead of winter, when the city can be so very, very cold. And for those of you who don’t think it ever snows in Rome all I can say is this… when you’re there, go for a beer, or, better, a meal in the restaurant run by a local brewery , the Antica Birreria Peroni (no relation) in the Via di S. Marcello, which is just off the busy Via Corso. Then take a look at the photographs behind the bar.

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