• Caravaggio’s final resting place

    He’s generally hailed as one of the finest Italian artists of all time. So where do you think Caravaggio is buried? In a great cathedral, like so many of his peers? Or the Pantheon, like Raphael?
    Oddly enough, we simply don’t know. Caravaggio died penniless trying to make his way back to Rome where he was [...]

    Posted on 12/11/07 | no comments | read on

  • The art of Roman bread

    Panella is a bit snooty. The place describes itself as ‘L’Arte del Pane’, the Art of Bread. I got a very Roman matronly wag of the finger for daring to take a picture - without flash I might add - inside the shop. But I suppose if you’re this good at your job….
    Panella makes bread [...]

    Posted on 30/09/07 | 1 comment | read on

  • Sacro e Profana, an unusual Roman restaurant

    I hate recommending restaurants in Italy for two reasons: they change quickly, and my preference may not be yours. Two old favourites - the pizzeria Li Rioni near the Colosseum and Ditirambo in the Campo Dei Fiori - have been pretty poor of late and are definitely off my list.
    But here’s a very unusual place [...]

    | 4 comments | read on

  • The best busker in Rome?

    My chapter in The Chopin Manuscript features a very talented busker outside the Pantheon in Rome. But Felicia Kaminski is an invention of my imagination. Among the frauds and the phoneys working the streets of Rome hunting tourist euros, there is true talent. Watch the very brief movie above for proof.
    This was shot this [...]

    Posted on 28/09/07 | no comments | read on

  • Is this the best commute in the world?

    A day off before I fly home tomorrow and time for a bit of sight-seeing. Except this is a busy commuter route, one seemingly used by hundreds if not thousands of people in California every work day during the week. Lucky them…. Here’s where it starts, Larkspur in Marin County, over the Golden Gate Bridge, [...]

    Posted on 08/09/07 | 2 comments | read on

  • And so to California…

    This is the last leg of this particular tour, a couple of restful days in northern California with one event only, at the wonderful Bookpassage store in Corte Madera tomorrow night (Friday).
    I’ve been to this part of the world regularly for more than twenty five years. As usual there’s plenty to remind me that I [...]

    Posted on 06/09/07 | no comments | read on

  • Melbourne’s lovely Vic Market

    I’m an absolute sucker for markets partly because there are so few back home in the UK. There’s a wonderful farmers’ market in my neck of the woods in Wye, but only every fortnight. Other than that it’s off to London to go to the gentrified and deeply overpriced Borough Market by London Bridge Station.
    Melbourne’s [...]

    Posted on 31/08/07 | no comments | read on

  • Barramundi please

    The last time I was in Australia a friend in Melbourne introduced me to a very Australian dish: barramundi, or giant perch, a fish that’s native to the country and one I’d never encountered anywhere before.
    It’s a big ‘un. The one at the top is lazing around in a tank at Sydney Aquarium at this [...]

    Posted on 28/08/07 | no comments | read on

  • Darling Harbour, not so great

    When you’ve been in Asia, even for a week, you land back in the west with a jolt. I got into Sydney this morning, slept, woke, worked, then went down the local ‘tourist attraction’ of Darling Harbour for a bite to eat in the evening. What a shock.
    Back in Hong Kong and Bangkok you may [...]

    Posted on 27/08/07 | 2 comments | read on

  • The right way to do public transport

    Public transport makes or breaks modern cities. One of the delights of Rome is the cheap system of subway, overground trains, buses and mini-buses. People complain about them but they’re everywhere and they’re cheap.
    London, on the other hand, now has single journeys on the Tube costing £4 and a congestion charge for anyone mad enough [...]

    | no comments | read on
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The books of David Hewson

The Rome Series

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