I woke before the alarm, although I suspect I would have even if I had forgotten to set one. There are some mornings when the light seems to wake you before the world has the chance. I dressed quietly in…
The City to Myself
I woke early in the villa, before the house had quite decided to be awake, and lay for a while watching the light come up green through the shutters, listening to the particular silence that belongs to places built high…
Fields of Gold
I woke early, which almost never happens to me, and I think it was the hills that did it. They had spent all of yesterday resting on their ridges in the distance, patient as cats, and sometime during the night…
Where the Hills Begin
I left the city in the morning, and for the first hour the road still seemed to have somewhere important to be. Then, without my quite noticing when, it forgot its hurry. The lanes narrowed and began to climb, the…
Under the Roman Sun
I woke before the heat had settled over the city and went out to meet its oldest streets while they were still half asleep. Rome in the early morning feels like another place entirely. The shutters remained mostly closed, cafés…
The House Above Florence
I came to Florence the slow way, as I always seem to, and I came to a house rather than a hotel. My aunt takes a villa in the hills above the city most summers, an old place with faded…
