I came with many expectations — I would work on a book proposal about Europe. I would outline a book of essays, or one of short stories. Instead, I read a long novel. I went for walks in the hills around the castle, looking out on a feudal landscape largely unchanged...
My stay at Civitella allowed me to anchor myself in nature and the long horizon of time: each morning I would walk for several hours in the hills surrounding the castle, inhaling vistas familiar from Renaissance paintings, savoring the light, the clouds, the fragrance...
