The bestselling historical fiction writer, whose new book, Nero, is out today, urges visitors to the Eternal City to make time for the quieter pleasures on offer around its seven hills
have loved Rome all my life. I went first when I was 10, to stay in a convent. The highlight then was slipping into a cage with two guard dogs, convinced I had a gift for soothing savage beasts. Reader, I survived.
I have to go to Rome for research – honestly, I do. Over the years, I have walked the seven hills and visited all the usual places. It’s possible to see the Forum and the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain and the Vatican in a day. You can walk down the Palatine hill to the Forum, knowing that Nero would have taken that route. You can visit the ruin of Pompey’s theatre, where Julius Caesar was murdered. Or just stand on bridges and watch the ancient Tiber flow.
for two reasons. One is to touch the granite columns that hold up the entrance. They are single pieces, each weighing about 60 tonnes. They were quarried in Egypt and transported here by ship and over land more than 2,000 years ago. To touch them is to touch the ancient world., the circle in the middle of the dome that’s open to the sky. It pleases me to know that if you imagine the dome as the upper half of a sphere, the bottom half would graze the marble floor at your feet.
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