If there is one lesson Rome teaches, it is that matter is good; in Rome the holy and the homely rise and converge.

Desire creates its own object.

Italians do not regard food as merely fuel. They regard it as medicine for the soul, one of life's abiding pleasures.

the gardens of our childhood are all beautiful.

There is no way to take the danger out of human relationships.

Nothing is more democratic, less judgmental, than water. Water doesn't care whether flesh is withered or fresh; it caresses aged flesh and firm flesh with equal love.

Italy offers one the most priceless of all one's possessions - one's own soul.