Fraternal heretics
My ailing plumber resides in one of Dante’s less agreeable “new normal” cellars. He is desperately ill with liver cancer [...]
Ash to ash
In the years before his death earlier this year at the age of 89, my erudite brother had turned away [...]
On a stalled planet
One friend, an influential member of European mass media, bemoans the disappearance of what he calls “fluidity.” Another, far younger [...]
Sogni d’oro
In a dream, I kissed a woman. Not once or twice or as part of a seduction but as a [...]
The hot breasts of yesteryear
Here was the problem, I explained to the technician some forty years ago. My Rome apartment, a delight in every [...]
Wiring up the plot
My favorite COVID conspiracy theory comes from my electrician, Carlo, who was here the other day patching up some rogue [...]
Too deep
When Alfredo Rampi was trapped in a well near Rome in June 1981, Italy came to a halt.
Of knives and fire
Some memories seem not to belong to one’s own life, but rather as details from a youth spent on some [...]
Make room for Yuri
Our Solar System was the only one with a planet named Yuri. This important piece of information emerged from Mrs. [...]
When systems still mattered
Two fairly recent and unrelated global transformations, one ideological, the other technological, are responsible for facilitating the at-times outsized reaction [...]