Matera is a town that people lived inside rather than on top of. That is the whole thing, and it takes about ten minutes on the ground to understand it in a way no photograph manages. The houses are not…
Lecce – The Road Between Two Summers
There are two summers here and they do not touch. One of them is the old town in the morning. Honey stone, and shutters going up, and a boy carrying a tray of something across a square at an angle…
Lecce, and the Hour Everyone Comes Out
At six the city is still shut. Not closed. Shut, the way a hand is shut. Shutters down, lanes empty, the limestone holding the whole of the day it has been given and handing none of it back. I went…
The Complete Guide to Lecce
Lecce is a long way down. It sits in the heel of Italy, in the Salento, past the point where most itineraries have already turned around and gone home, and the effort of getting there is the first thing anyone…
Ischia, Where the Water Comes Up Hot
Somebody at dinner told me to go at six, and to go alone, and not to bring a towel I was fond of. I did all three. The road ends above Panza. After that there is a sign, and after…
Sorrento – Last Days of Summer
In August the town does not empty out. It fills. I had it the wrong way round in my head. I thought the middle of the month would hollow the place out, everyone gone elsewhere, shutters down. It is the…
