Hi,
Got your text and saw your FB post this morning. Neither are my preferred method of communication, so I write from here. I am glad you are finally reading Four Seasons in Rome. Charming little easy read. According to Amazon I bought my first copy in September of 2007, right before I went to Rome for my first time. I was laying in bed on a Saturday morning listening to Scott Simon on Weekend Edition. He was interviewing Anthony Doerr about his book and time he spent in Rome. Thinking that’s where I am going soon, that is the neighborhood I will be living in, I immediately bought the book. It’s a fun read and speaks to everything I got to know about Rome over the years I spent time there. I like that the book is written as journal of his trials and tribulations of his life there for the year he spent at the American Academy in Rome. I particularly like that he went there with a plan to finish an historical novel he was working on and in instead zig zagged into this little book. I know of all the places he speaks about in the book. I think it was him who said Trastevere is where the real Romans live. I loved that neighborhood. Within walking distance of everything, but not so close to the big monuments and Piazzas that it was overrun with tourists. I used to walk up the top of the Gianicola to not only take in the views, but walk by the American Academy and fantasize about being a resident there for a year and really explore the city. I later looked into applying to go there only to find out they award residencies to artists and scholars who are in the early or middle stages of their career. That kind of left me out. I am sure your other friends who have visited Rome will speak highly of the neighborhoods they stayed. And they would be right. Anything near the historic center is magical. Imagine stepping out of your apartment very morning for a cappuccino and casually walking by the Pantheon? But I always found Trastevere to be particularly magical. Alive with cafes and shops and gelatorias. I stayed in the same apartment for all five years and never tired of the view. So my vote is Trastevere. By the way, Amazon tells me I purchased your copy of the book in December of 2016. But our copies are first editions and apparently sell for over $100 these days. Who knew?
Ciao, ciao,
Mel
