The Italian Theme

I started into the Grand Tour a bit long in the tooth for such exertions. France was an "education sentimentale" as a student and now I spend too much time and energy there looking, amid the paternal architecture that makes Paris over dramatic to my eyes, for the relative quiet of the 1960's and the atmosphere brought there by Moustaki.

It is strange to see a culture through the prism of a Greek singer, but I also add Apollinaire and the Fauve painters that seem to be in the background these days. The Drug Store de Paris may well be still there and the strange little restaurant where Renault cars were the booths, but I have somehow got distracted by Italy and this looks set to continue.

Rome is a friendly city and although I don't speak Italian, Latin seems to be a useful link as I search for single words to enunciate loudly. The accent there is with "t" seemingly softened to "d" in many words, but since I have not discussed this with native speakers I'll have to search high and low on the net to be able to interpret this.

The churches are remarkable, as everybody told me for years and my admiration for Pozzo who was not only an artist but a writer is extreme.