I've been lucky enough to see the Livia frescoes in person and I also felt hit by how arresting they are in that particular way Art and History and the intersection of both can do.
Finding myself in your Subtack via a mention to your post on getting a driver's license in Italy in another website ( Go Fug Yourself whose wonderful Heather and Jessica also host a substack here named Drinks with Broads), it was a nice surprise to come across the Livia Frescoes as I have been making my way through your posts and enjoying them and your writing and observations a great deal. Thank you for sharing them.
Hi, thanks so much for reading and commenting on so many posts! It’s always nice to see someone dig in (I like seeing which posts catch their eye too—in your case, quite a variety!). I’m particularly glad to find another Livia fresco enthusiast; I feel like no one who goes to Rome should miss them. Thanks again for your support—and welcome!
I appreciate art, but I'm not usually one to gush over it, but...wow. That is amazing. I understand how you could get lost in it. I certainly could. ❤️
Antonella, you can use Overdrive, and no VPN is needed. There's a great English-language bookstore in Florence, Paperback Exchange, and bigger stores like Feltrinelli carry some books in English. Online, try Better World Books, Book Depository, or the usual evil mega-retailer.
Well, it wasn't that dumb anyway. You mentioned early in your article that you would tell us more about the impact of the frescoes on you and how and why it left you bereft. And didn't you say also, a little sad. I was looking for something that delved into those feelings a bit more, especially given the writerly skills you have developed lo these many years. The scene you paint at the end - you and the Empress in her garden - was joyous, and so, not bereft in the way I thought you meant it.
Clearly another draft was needed! I was feeling bereft at the museum—but then the gardens found me in the Cortona shop and I found out about Livia and presto! But if I have to explain it, it's not on the page.
I've been lucky enough to see the Livia frescoes in person and I also felt hit by how arresting they are in that particular way Art and History and the intersection of both can do.
Finding myself in your Subtack via a mention to your post on getting a driver's license in Italy in another website ( Go Fug Yourself whose wonderful Heather and Jessica also host a substack here named Drinks with Broads), it was a nice surprise to come across the Livia Frescoes as I have been making my way through your posts and enjoying them and your writing and observations a great deal. Thank you for sharing them.
Hi, thanks so much for reading and commenting on so many posts! It’s always nice to see someone dig in (I like seeing which posts catch their eye too—in your case, quite a variety!). I’m particularly glad to find another Livia fresco enthusiast; I feel like no one who goes to Rome should miss them. Thanks again for your support—and welcome!
You're welcome. I loved what I read of your newsletter and am looking forward to reading more. Have a nice day!
I appreciate art, but I'm not usually one to gush over it, but...wow. That is amazing. I understand how you could get lost in it. I certainly could. ❤️
I hope you get to see it someday!
Me, too...though much of my travels could be described as "sometimes you go looking for minefields- and sometimes they come to you." 😂
Haha, love it! As long as you survive the blast, that is.
Heck yeah, celebrating powerful women!
How do you read books in English while living in Italy? Asking, not to be nosy, but for my eventual sojourn 'nel bel paese'. Grazie in anticipo.
(Addendum: I have a library card with Overdrive and would love to continue reading those digital books. Would I use a VPN to *fool* my US library?)
Antonella, you can use Overdrive, and no VPN is needed. There's a great English-language bookstore in Florence, Paperback Exchange, and bigger stores like Feltrinelli carry some books in English. Online, try Better World Books, Book Depository, or the usual evil mega-retailer.
I could feel the magnetism.
Wonderful! Thanks for stopping by!
Wonderfully written! Love your perspective on art in Italy.
Thank you so much! Very glad you liked it. And I appreciate the comment!
But why were you made bereft?
Because I NEEDED them!
You probably think it was a dumb question, it being so obviously stated in between the lines. Well, yes, I get it now....
Nah. Happy to have you chiming in, and there are no dumb questions, right?
Well, it wasn't that dumb anyway. You mentioned early in your article that you would tell us more about the impact of the frescoes on you and how and why it left you bereft. And didn't you say also, a little sad. I was looking for something that delved into those feelings a bit more, especially given the writerly skills you have developed lo these many years. The scene you paint at the end - you and the Empress in her garden - was joyous, and so, not bereft in the way I thought you meant it.
Clearly another draft was needed! I was feeling bereft at the museum—but then the gardens found me in the Cortona shop and I found out about Livia and presto! But if I have to explain it, it's not on the page.
Ah, the writer's life! That transformation is, in my opinion, worth a paragraph. Or two.