There are no original ideas. There are only original people.

In memory Venice is always magic.

One can be tired of Rome after three weeks and feel one has exhausted it; after three months one feels that one has not even scratched the surface of Rome; and after six months one wishes never to leave it.

I love cloisters, which are the architectural equivalent of a theological concept: perfect freedom within set boundaries.

Italians' relationship to food is loving, informal, and gay.

to have a crisis, and act upon it, is one thing. To dwell in perpetual crisis is another.

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.