In 1992 I was lucky enough to spend part of the summer in Rome, Assisi, and Florence. I met several fascinating people on this trip.

One was Marco. He’s an expert on Assisi.

In Rome that summer I was fortunate to be one of the scholars invited to study at the American Academy in Rome. Our topic “the development of Rome under the Renaissance popes.” I was in absolute heaven. Here I am with one new friend, Susan Dixon.

No trip to Rome for me is complete without a stop at Canova’s statue of Pauline Borghese.

Neither is any stay in Rome (or anywhere in Italy) complete without lots and lots of gelato!

Below is a picture of some of us scholars outside a Roman ruin we were lucky enough to have access to. It wasn’t open to the public and we had to wear hard hats. We felt like pseudo archaeologists. I’m the one in the shorts.

I must say, though, that some of these fabulous experiences ruined me for regular life. I identify with what Virginia Woolf famously remarked: