Civitella is such a wonderful place at the beginning I felt a bit intimidated. The first two days I was taken by wonder and I wrote very little, spending most of the time checking the robins’ flight from my window in the castle. I never had in my all life such great conditions to write, a room on my own (in a castle), good food (cooked by someone else), time, silence and interesting conversations during the dinners with the group. All this increased somehow my sense of guilty of not being enough productive. Believe it or not the third night here I dreamt about Virginia Woolf staring at me in a severe way. I never wanted to disappoint Virginia. I took my rhythm and even if I didn’t write as much as I planned (in a very optimistic perspective I wanted to finish my novel) these days were some of the most intense, enriching and productive of my life.