You’ve been to Naples. You went to Pompeii. Yet you missed the adventure. Pompeii gets all the attention. But less than 30 kilometres from Naples, in the other direction, there is another Roman city just as extraordinary — that almost nobody knows exists and even fewer have seen. Because it’s underwater.Baia didn’t die in a flash of fire like Pompeii. It sank. One breath at a time, over centuries, until the most decadent resort of the Roman Empire became a silent kingdom of fish and seaweed.The science behind it is called bradyseism — from the Greek for slow movement. The Phlegraean Fields — the vast active volcanic caldera stretching west…
-
-
The sea, the dragon and cloud nine
There is a road along the Campania coast that I have driven perhaps ten times. Like all great beauties, it has no mercy — plunging cliffs, hairpin turns, oncoming buses on roads built for donkeys, views so extravagant they feel like provocation. Yes, it’s the infamous Amalfi Coast. I love it completely. I do it off-season, of course. I even enjoy tight slope parking when I stop for aperitivo in Praiano. But you, you should take the bus, really. The SITA drivers (local bus company) are fearless and the timing is surprisingly good. But here is the catch: the coast is not (entirely) the point. The coast is the way…
-
PUGLIA #SINEQUANON: ITALY’S HIGH HEEL WILL STEAL THE SHOW
ONE: LECCE For whatever reason they call it Florence of the South, but Lecce is a different kind of magic. Lecce is pure Baroque excess: hot, theatrical, playful, sensual. The local pietra leccese stone is so soft it practically begs to be carved, and architects went wild: cherubs tumble, columns twist, saints float mid-air, facades ripple like stage curtains. Santa Croce is the delirium of it all, Piazza Duomo the perfect backdrop – you simply cannot be a saint here. And when the sun goes down, the city doesn’t dim, it glows. On a stage as big as your ego and as daring as your secret desires, you are the…
-
wisdom comes in improbable places
You think the Brits don’t have it in their blood, le cool, l’extraordinaire? Think again, you lovers of the avant-garde. Here is some London intelligence that I brought with me from my last outing If the planet was to choose one capital, it should be London I love it every time, each time for the old reasons and for some new reasons. You can never be bored, you can never be wrong in London. It is always worth it, even for a two night stay, a walk and an evening show. Resist and you’ll regret In London wisdom came to me in the most improbable of places. Like this wonderful…
