As I leave Lucca, I open up my book, Let the Games Begin by Niccolo Ammaniti. ‘A raunchy and satirical romp,’ says Ian Rankin. ‘Debauchery on an epic scale,’ writes Big Issue. But I’m struggling. Take the characters for a start. There’s Fabrizio, in his crumpled designer suit, who is struggling to write a best … Continue reading Grafitti, pickpockets and Satanic cults in Rome
Month: May 2015
Lovely Lucca and its hidden history of emigration
A sunset glow sweeps over the exquisite façade of San Michele in Foro, surely one of the most beautiful churches in Italy. I sip an Aperol Spritz and watch old and young negotiate the cobbled streets on clapped out bicycles. People scurry past the cafe, clutching flat, square boxes from the most popular pizzeria in … Continue reading Lovely Lucca and its hidden history of emigration
Memoria e Migrazioni at Genoa’s Galata Museo del Mare
The taxi driver stops at the end of a dark alleyway leading up from the harbour. “It isn’t safe round here,” he advises. I press the bell to the, ‘new flat on the seventh floor in the historic area of Genoa.’ The heavy, wooden door swings open and I enter a dingy but handsome hallway … Continue reading Memoria e Migrazioni at Genoa’s Galata Museo del Mare
24 hours in Turin
The taxi delivers me to the address of my B&B in Turin, an elegant Art Nouveau building near the centre of town. I scrutinise rows of brass bells but none of them are marked with a name I recognise. I delay the taxi driver, rouse a waiter in the nearby café and disturb a cleaner … Continue reading 24 hours in Turin
Prada Foundation art collection takes root in Milan – all the talk at the Venice Biennale
I meet Farah coming out of Lodi metro station. “Everybody was talking about it at the Venice Biennale,” she says adjusting her sunglasses. Prada, of course. This self-assured art curator, a Canadian of Iranian descent, was as lost as I was in this wasteland of South Milan. Then, as we turn a corner, large billboard … Continue reading Prada Foundation art collection takes root in Milan – all the talk at the Venice Biennale
Eithne Nightingale 