I arrived on a Monday with a clear and detailed plan. We travelled to Assisi on Tuesday and by Wednesday I had already betrayed that plan. I chose, instead, to let the extraordinary saints and demons that populate the region’s churches in frescos and ex votos dictate my time. And I’m happy I did because this detour solved a structural issue I had been struggling with on my next book. Divine, or perhaps demonic, intervention! The Civitella Ranieri is a magnificient place to write (and to eat and walk and think and play and converse) and its generous and engaging staff equals the castle’s magnificence.