Setting, setting, setting!

Important advice for aspiring crime writers from author P D James

Over the years P D James has consistently maintained that setting is a key element in a detective novel.

When I interviewed her for a newspaper feature in the 1990s she said her own novels were nearly always inspired by a particular place she had visited.

She loved the East Anglian coasts, Suffolk in particular, and set many of her novels in seaside towns she found particularly inspiring, having explored them thoroughly to enable her to describe the setting for her stories evocatively.

Helpful book for novice
 crime writers

She believed that it is only if the action is firmly rooted in a physical reality that the reader can fully enter into the world of the characters. She agreed with the many crime fiction readers who have said convincing characters are important, but felt the setting for a novel, the place where the characters live and move about, is also a vital element.

In her book Talking about Detective Fiction, P D James says the world in which the characters in a novel live has to be made to seem real. She writes: ‘We (the readers) need to breathe their air, see with their eyes, walk the paths they tread and inhabit the rooms the writer has furnished for them.’

She also believes it’s important for the setting to be seen through the eyes of one of the characters, not merely described by the author, and that setting can establish the mood of a novel, citing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles as an example.

P D James writes: ‘We only have to think of …that dark and sinister mansion, set in the middle of the fog-shrouded moor, to appreciate how important setting can be to the establishment of atmosphere. The Hound of Wimbledon Common would hardly provide such a frisson of terror.’

She was inspired to write her novel, Devices and Desires, (1989), one of her 14 novels featuring the detective Adam Dalgliesh, while on a visit of exploration in East Anglia, when she was standing on a deserted shingle beach one day.

She writes: ‘There were a few wooden boats drawn up on the beach, a couple of brown nets slung between poles and drying in the wind and, looking out over the sullen and dangerous North Sea, I could imagine myself standing in the same place hundreds of years ago with the taste of salt on my lips and the constant hiss and withdrawing rattle of the tide. Then, turning my eyes to the south, I saw the great outline of Sizewell nuclear power station and immediately I knew that I had found the setting for my next novel.’

PD James says she was excited because she knew that however long the writing took she would eventually have a novel.

She began her research by visiting nuclear power stations and speaking to the scientists to find out how nuclear power stations are run.

Bergamo's historical upper town

I took the advice PD James gave me when I met her in the 1990s, but it was not until many years after I had interviewed her that I wrote my first novel, Death in the High City, having been inspired by the magical city of Bergamo in northern Italy.

PD James wrote her book, Talking about Detective Fiction, at the request of the Bodleian publishing department. She says she was invited by the Librarian to write a book in aid of the Library on the subject of British detective fiction, because it is a form of popular literature that had for over 50 years fascinated her and engaged her as a writer.

At the beginning she describes how the genre started in the 19th century, pinpointing The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins as the first English detective story. She then discusses the contributions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with his character, Sherlock Holmes, and G K Chesterton, with his amateur sleuth, Father Brown.

The work of the four Queens of Crime – Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh is evaluated along with that of other Golden Age writers. She then casts her eye over the American PI offshoot from the genre and the modern developments British writers have now introduced.

Perhaps the most helpful to aspiring crime writers are the final three chapters of this fascinating little book, where P D James deals with setting, viewpoint and character.

Looking into the future, she predicts that many people will continue to turn to the detective story for ‘relief, entertainment and mild intellectual challenge.’

PD James published her final Adam Dalgliesh novel, The Private Patient, in 2008.

Talking about Detective Fiction was published by Bodleian Library in 2009.

PD James died in November 2014 in Oxford.

Talking about Detective Fiction is available from or

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The Haunted Hotel

Is this a ghost story or is it a crime novel?

My 2015 edition of The Haunted 
Hotel, first published in 1878

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, published in 1868, has been talked of as the first English detective novel as it established many of the ground rules of the modern genre. There is a detective, Sergeant Cuff, a country house setting, false suspects and a final twist in the plot.

Wilkie Collins wrote The Haunted Hotel ten years after The Moonstone was published. I was delighted recently when I received a copy of The Haunted Hotel as a present because I wondered how closely it would resemble a detective story, which is my favourite genre. I was also intrigued because a lot of the story takes place in Venice, a city that I love.

Collins was known for writing sensation novels, or sensation fiction, which was at the peak of its popularity in the 1860s and 1870s. His novel, The Woman in White, published in 1860, is one of the finest examples of sensation fiction, so called because it was written to play on the nerves and excite the senses of the reader.

In The Haunted Hotel, Collins makes the reader think he is going to write a novel that deals with the supernatural, as very early in the book questions are raised about being able to predict the future and being able to sense evil in a room.

The story begins with a London doctor being visited by a foreign Countess who is desperate for him to tell her whether she is evil, or insane. She is about to marry a nobleman, Lord Montbarry, but has discovered that he was engaged to another woman when he proposed to her, who has subsequently released him from the engagement.

The Countess says she has been assured the other woman did not blame her for the break-up of her relationship with Lord Montbarry and that the true course of events had been explained to her. But she says that when she eventually met his former fiancée and saw the other woman’s eyes upon her she turned ‘cold from head to foot’ and experienced great fear.

Wilkie Collins is best known for
his 1859 novel The Woman in White

After the marriage has taken place and the couple are away on their honeymoon, the story is told from the point of view of the jilted woman, Agnes, who is perceived by all her friends as a kind, loving, good person.

Mrs Ferrari, a woman Agnes has known since childhood, then comes to her for help. She is married to an Italian courier who desperately needs work. She asks Agnes to recommend her husband to a newly married couple who are about to tour Italy. When Agnes discovers the couple are Lord and Lady Montbarry, she is reluctant to intervene, but out of sympathy for the woman she eventually agrees that the courier can mention her name to help him secure the job.

Mr Ferrari accompanies the newlyweds to Italy while Agnes goes to stay with friends in Ireland.

On her return to London she receives the news from Mrs Ferrari that the courier’s letters have stopped coming and that no one has seen or heard of him for weeks.

Then Mrs Ferrari receives a bizarre letter. It contains a £1000 note and a piece of paper with the words: ‘To console you for the loss of your husband.’

A few days later, Lord Montbarry’s brother, Henry Westwick, calls to see Agnes to break the news to her that Lord Montbarry has died of bronchitis in the Venetian palazzo where he had been staying.

Collins makes it seem inevitable that all the protagonists will meet again in Venice at some stage in the future. The palace where Lord Montbarry died is converted into an hotel and his brother, Henry, buys shares in it.

Later, friends of Agnes invite her on a trip to Italy with them and plan to visit Venice.

Henry’s sister and brother both separately visit the newly converted hotel that their brother has invested in and feel ill after staying in the best room, number 14, where they smell a foul odour. It turns out to be the room where Lord Montbarry died.

Events conspire to have Agnes allocated to that room when she arrives at the hotel with her party. The sinister Countess, who also happens to have returned to Venice is staying at the Hotel Danieli, but when she discovers that Agnes is staying at the newly converted palace she moves into the hotel.

Agnes then endures a night of horror in the room where Lord Montbarry died. At this point I am still wondering if this is a ghost story, or a tale about the supernatural.

There is no detective in the novel, but Lord Montbarry’s brother, Henry Westwick, sets out to find out what has taken place. He makes a discovery in the room above room number 14 that helps lead him to the truth.

A portrait of Wilkie Collins by
John Everett Millais

This is the room in the old palace that had been occupied by Baron Rivar, the brother of the Countess, who had enjoyed making chemical experiments.

The sinister Countess has died during the night of a ruptured blood vessel in the brain, but she leaves an unfinished play that provides Henry with clues to the fate of the missing Italian courier.

My conclusion is that Wilkie Collins did write a crime story after all. There was the sudden death of Lord Montbarry, whose life was insured for £10000 pounds in favour of his widow, the sinister Countess. The insurance company investigates the death but can find nothing to suggest it was not natural causes. The Italian courier disappears mysteriously. The amateur detective, Henry Westwick, discovers the truth when he visits the room above number 14 and reads a half finished play by the Countess, which helps him finally discover what happened to his brother..

The Haunted Hotel has many of the ingredients of a crime novel and the truth is not revealed until the end of the novel in the tradition of the genre. I can definitely recommend it to crime fiction fans.

The Haunted Hotel is available from and

(The Millais portrait of Wilkie Collins hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London)

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Setting the Scene

Use your memories to help you write with assurance

Many crime writers believe the setting is one of the most important elements in a novel and that it almost becomes an additional character in the story.

The fishing village of Marina di Puolo gave me
the idea for my novel, The Shooting in Sorrento

Whether it is a country house in the case of Golden Age novels, a big city such as London or Edinburgh, or the island of Sicily, as in the novels of Andrea Camilleri, where the crime takes place has a big impact on the story and the investigation that follows.

A lot of writers become inspired by a particular place they have visited and their minds immediately start inventing a mystery to happen there.

When I interviewed the crime writer P D James in the 1990s she told me that her novels were almost always inspired by somewhere she had visited.

If you are a new writer you should try to set a story in a place you know well so that you can describe it convincingly and be accurate with the geography. Your murderer should be able to get from one place to another in a realistic amount of time, otherwise readers who also know the location will feel let down.

It is tempting to choose a glamorous setting for your book so that readers can become armchair travellers and enjoy visiting the sights along with your detective.

I was intrigued by the gated entrance to some
caves just outside Marina di Puolo

But many writers have picked abattoirs, factories, power stations and crime ridden inner city housing estates. As long as they have really known and understood their location, they have been able to use it effectively.

Wherever you decide to set your novel, you must visit it and get to know it well so that you can present it authentically.

There are exceptions, of course. I have read that H R F Keating wrote an entire series of books set in India, featuring his character, Inspector Ghote, an Indian police officer, and yet the writer himself had never been to the country, but had done all his research from maps and books.

But on the whole, it is better to know a setting well to be able to describe it accurately. After all, it is one of the perks of being an author to have a good excuse for frequent days out or holidays abroad.

For years, I enjoyed holidays in Sorrento in southern Italy, vaguely thinking it would make a beautiful setting for a detective novel or film and that no British crime writer had ever used it.

But it was only when I discovered some caves, while walking along the beach of a small fishing village just outside Sorrento, that I got the beginnings of an idea for a plot.

The caves were at sea level and would have been below what was once a Roman villa, providing the owners and their guests with access from the sea thousands of years ago.

The caves looked the perfect place
to hide a kidnap victim

There were some kayaks, paddles and some old fishing nets being stored in the caves now, behind locked metal gates, but it occurred to me that a body could also be hidden there, or a kidnap victim could be kept there. People could bring in contraband items by sea and hide them in there. Or, a character could be imprisoned there by someone who wanted to keep them out of circulation for a while.

When I visited Positano by boat I saw that the coastline of Sorrento had many such recesses at sea level that could be used in this way. They were places that were inaccessible by car and even difficult to get to on foot, but were perfectly accessible by boat if you knew the area well. That’s when the plot of The Shooting in Sorrento occurred to me.

The book, my second Butler and Bartorelli mystery, starts with a bridegroom being shot, seemingly at random by a sniper, while posing for pictures in Piazza Tasso with his bride after his wedding in Sorrento. 

It was a sight I had often seen over the years while on holiday in Sorrento, although, of course, I had never seen anyone actually shot.

Journalist Kate Butler and her partner, retired detective Steve Bartorelli, are staying at the same hotel as the wedding party and Kate feels she has to help the family, who speak no Italian and are traumatised by what has happened.

The years I had spent sightseeing and shopping in the historic centre of Sorrento  helped me enormously in devising my plot as I was able to easily recall how quickly you could get from one location, such as the Franciscan cloisters, to another, Chiesa del Carmine, a baroque church that overlooks the main square, Piazza Tasso.

The cover of my mystery novel,
The Shooting in Sorrento

With my family I had regularly visited the beach of Marina di Puolo, which is out of town on the Sorrentine peninsula, and I had great fun inventing an historic villa with a terrace that overlooked the seafront as the home of one of my characters.

Most people will have a favourite city or holiday resort in their memory bank that they can use as a location in a book and they will find it is a big help to be able to know instinctively whether a character has to turn left, or turn right, to reach a particular place. Also, they will know whether or not it is practical to allow a character to run up a steep hill quickly to reach a place in time for the murder.

If you don’t want to use a real town or village as a setting, you can imagine one of your favourite places that you already know well and move it to another part of the country, or to a different country, and give it another name, but you will still be able to rely on your memories of it to write about it with assurance.

Readers frequently say they will put up with a lot provided a novel has a strong sense of place, so the best settings to choose are the ones you know well and for which you have genuine feelings.

The Shooting in Sorrento is available as a paperback or Kindle ebook on Amazon.

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Death in the High City

It is with a big sense of achievement, but also with some trepidation, that I have just published my first novel on Amazon.

Death in the High City is a crime novel that takes place in Bergamo in northern Italy. It is the first book in a series featuring detective duo Kate Butler, a freelance journalist, and Steve Bartorelli, a retired Detective Chief Inspector who is of partly Italian descent.

The novel has enabled me to write about Italian culture, food and wine and also indulge in my fascination for detective fiction.

Death in the High City is believed to be the first British crime novel to put the spotlight on Bergamo. It centres on the investigation into the murder of an English woman who was writing a biography of the composer Gaetano Donizetti.

The victim had been living in an apartment in Bergamo’s Città Alta and much of the action takes place within the walls of the high city. The local police do not believe there is enough evidence to open a murder enquiry and so Kate Butler, who is the victim’s cousin, arrives on the scene to try to get some answers about her cousin’s death.

Kate visits many of the places in Bergamo with Donizetti connections and her enquiries even take her to nearby Lago d’Iseo. But after her own life is threatened and there is another death in the Città Alta, her lover, Steve Bartorelli, joins her to help her unravel the mystery and trap the killer.

For more information about Bergamo visit www.bestofbergamo.com

Death in the High City is available from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle e-book.

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What price a room with a view?

Looking out on a beautiful scene from your hotel window in Italy can be an important part of the holiday for many people.

A view of the Venetian lagoon is worth paying a
little extra even in misty November

If you are in Venice it is wonderful to be able to see a canal or the lagoon. If you are in a resort on a lake or by the sea it is lovely to have a view of the water. And if you are in an historic city it is exciting to look out at a famous building or piazza.

Wonderful views have drawn me back to the same hotel in Sorrento each year for the last 20 years. When I stayed there for the first time I arrived late at night with my husband and two young children. When we woke up the following morning to see the fabulous views of the bay of Naples our love affair with the hotel began and we have returned to stay there nearly every summer since.

The hotel, which is at Capo di Sorrento, has a large terrace overlooking the sea with panoramic views that I never tire of looking at.

My favourite view is from the terrace outside my room from where you can see the point of land known as Capo di Massa, which has the remains of a Saracen stone tower on the end where the land meets the sea.

From the dining room, or the terrace outside our room, we enjoy seeing cruise ships going past at night, lit up so they look like glittering diamond necklaces strung out over the sea.

In the mornings we enjoy watching the ferries and hydrofoils crossing from Sorrento to Capri and Ischia, or sailing past Capo di Massa to round Punta Campanella and reach the resorts along the Amalfi coast.

A view of which I never tire... from the Hotel
Dania at Capo di Sorrento

But sometimes when you are planning a holiday it is worth considering what you are going to be doing when you get there and whether it would be more practical to book a hotel in a handy location even if the views are not all that spectacular.

For example, if you are planning to travel about to other places sightseeing it might be better to book a hotel close to the railway station or bus station rather than in the heart of the centro storico.

Then when you return tired after a long day out you won’t have far to go to get to your hotel in order to shower and change for dinner.

If you are travelling with a car it might be worth considering an out of town hotel with free parking close to the autostrada so that you can get on your way quickly each morning.

Hotels in these types of locations are often modern and specially equipped for business travellers, meaning you will have the benefit of the extra facilities. Also, prices tend to be lower than those charged by hotels in the centre of town that have views of the historic sights.

There are many beautiful things to see in Italy while you are out and about during the day and you don’t necessarily have to be able to see them from your bedroom window.

But whether to be romantic or practical is entirely a matter of personal choice and deciding between a great view and a convenient location can be part of the fun of planning your holiday.

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Lady Mary’s writing put Lovere on the map

An 18th century portrait of
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who is considered to be the first female English travel writer, was born 323 years ago today (15 May, 1689).

Lady Mary travelled extensively at the beginning of the 18th century with her husband, who was appointed British ambassador to Turkey and during this time she wrote the poetry and letters that established her literary reputation.

She also became an advocate of inoculation against smallpox, having witnessed the practice on her travels.

But in 1739 she left her husband and went to live in Italy alone. After spending time in Brescia in Lombardia she moved to live in Lovere on Lago d’Iseo (pictured above) on the advice of her doctor who thought the climate of the lakeside resort would be good for her health.

Lady Mary was to spend nearly ten years in Lovere, preferring it to the resorts of nearby Lago di Garda which were more well known and popular with English tourists.

She constantly praised Lovere as a holiday resort and is reputed to have once declined an invitation to the Venice carnival saying: “There are plenty of things to do in this village, which, by the way, is one of the most beautiful that exists.”

Lady Wortley Montagu was captivated by the lakeside
town of Lovere, where she bought an old palace

She bought an old palace where she spent happy years designing the garden and reading the books her daughter sent out to her from England .

She enjoyed entertaining local nobility and making the occasional trip to Genova and Padova, inspired to write poetry by the beauty of Lago d’Iseo and the “impassable mountains” surrounding it.

While living in Lovere she wrote in a letter to her daughter: “I am now in a place the most beautifully romantic I ever saw in my life.”

She returned to live in England in 1761 and died the following year. Her last words were reputed to be: “It has all been most interesting.”

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Stop the world, I want to get off … and land on Monte Isola

Peschiera Maraglio at the foot of Monte Isola

If you ever feel like getting away from it all for a while, I can recommend a small lake island in northern Italy.

Monte Isola, in the middle of Lago d’Iseo in Lombardia, provides a real escape from the modern world, although it takes only a few minutes to reach by boat. It is the largest lake island both in Italy and in central and southern Europe, rising to a peak of about 600 metres above the surface of the lake. It is a spectacular sight from the shores of Lago d’Iseo and is a lovely excursion to make in either the spring or the summer.

You can walk all the way round Monte Isola in a day along peaceful footpaths at the side of the lake, enjoying unspoilt natural scenery and beautiful views of the smaller islands of San Paolo and Loreto.

There are some good restaurants where you can eat fresh fish caught from the lake and comfortable hotels if you want to stay the night.

Footpaths provide an easy walk around the island, which is no
more than 3km long and 2km wide

With fewer than 2,000 residents, Monte Isola is a green oasis with hardly any cars, as only the doctor and the mayor are allowed to have them.  There is a minibus service around the island, too.

There are several points around Lago d’Iseo from where you can take a ferry to Monte Isola, but the shortest crossing is from Sulzano on the Brescia side of the lake. You can take a train to Sulzano from the city of Brescia and it is just a short walk from the railway station in Sulzano to the imbarcadero, where you can buy boat tickets and get tourism information leaflets. After a few minutes on the ferry you disembark at Peschiera Maraglio, an old fishing village with shops and restaurants.

From Peschiera Maraglio it is a comfortable walk to the other side of the island and Monte Isola’s main village, Siviano. From there it is a short walk down to the port below Siviano to the imbarcadero where the boats leave for Tavernola Bergamasca on the Bergamo side of the lake. From there you can take a coach to Bergamo .

Or, you can ride back to Peschiera Maraglio on the island’s tiny bus, which leaves from Piazza Municipio in Siviano and from there take the ferry back to Sulzano on the Brescia side of the lake.

If you would like more information about Bergamo and other beautiful places in Lombardia visit www.bestofbergamo.com.

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Easter celebrations in Italy

Easter is a lovely time of the year to visit Italy as the weather is beginning to warm up and the spring flowers are in bloom.

Many towns have processions on Venerdi Santo (Good Friday) when statues or crosses are paraded through the streets or displayed in the main square.

Italian Easter eggs typically come with 
artistically elaborate packaging

And while the world tunes in to watch the celebrations in Rome on television, special services will be held at churches all over Italy to celebrate la Pasqua (Easter Sunday).

In the run up to the Easter weekend, many shops will have elaborate displays of chocolate eggs in their windows. Italian Easter eggs are usually wrapped artistically in coloured cellophane and tied with pretty ribbons. They often contain a toy, or in the case of Easter eggs for adults, a gift, which can sometimes be as substantial as a mobile phone!

Since Easter Sunday marks the end of Lent, food plays an important part in the Italian celebrations. Restaurants are usually busy at lunch time and many will serve a special menu for families who are out for a meal together, so it is advisable to book in advance if you are hoping to have a good lunch.

A traditional Easter meal for Italians, whether they are eating at home or in a restaurant, is likely to centre on agnello (lamb) as the main course, either roasted or braised.

For dessert there will usually be la Colomba, the dove-shaped cake that is traditional at Easter, in the same way that il Panettone is eaten at Christmas.

Italy's traditional Easter cake is called la Colomba.
It is similar in texture to Panettone

La Colomba is known as the bird of peace and there is a legend that says a cake in the shape of a dove was offered to try to end a siege at Pavia centuries ago.

There is also the theory that the cake was created in the 1930s by a firm in Milan who wanted to provide a cake for Easter that was the equivalent of Panettone.

La Colomba is now sold all over Italy but can also be made in the home. The traditional version has an almond and sugar topping, but these days the shops sell them with all kinds of fillings, icings and toppings.

For details of what there is to see and do in the northern city of Bergamo in Lombardia, visit www.bestofbergamo.com. To find out about the main sights and attractions of Sorrento, a seaside resort south of Naples in Campania, visit www.bestofsorrento.com.

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The inspirational power of Bergamo

The skyline of the Città Alta captivates the
imagination whether on a crisp Christmas night (above)
or a warm summer's day (below)

I have become a frequent visitor to Bergamo in northern Italy over the last few years and started travel writing as a result of my interest in the city.

There are many ways in which Bergamo has inspired me as a writer, but probably its most fascinating feature is the way the Città Alta appears in the skyline enticing you to go up there.

The view of Bergamo’s upper town in the skyline is one of the first things you notice when you arrive. Even as you get off the plane at Bergamo Caravaggio airport it is difficult to ignore the city.

You can see the domes and towers of the upper town silhouetted against the sky from the airport runway.

To move straight on to Milan, or one of the lakes, as many people do, without exploring the medieval Città Alta and the lower town, the Città Bassa, would be a great pity.

If you arrive in Bergamo by train, or take the bus into the city from the airport, you will see a magnificent view of the Città Alta from outside the railway station.

If you stand and look down the long, straight Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII you will see the towers and roofs of the Città Alta silhouetted against the blue sky, suspended as if by mysterious means.

It’s a magical view and makes you want to go straight up there and explore the upper town at close quarters.

The view is different according to the season. I have visited Bergamo in the spring, summer and autumn. The Città Alta looks magnificent on a bright day silhouetted against a blue sky. But it also looks beautiful shrouded in mist in the autumn.

The monumental walls protecting the Citta Alta
were built by the Venetians in the 16th century

One of the most striking features that you notice straight away is the huge wall around the Città Alta.

Le Mura is the name for the 16th century fortified walls that have divided Bergamo into two cities, the Città Alta (the upper town) and the Città Bassa (the lower town). They are truly monumental stone walls, completely surrounding the Città Alta, built by the Venetian occupiers and rulers of Bergamo in 1561 to keep invaders out.

You will sometimes see articles written about Bergamo in magazines and newspapers, and information about the city in travel guides about northern Italy, where the Città Bassa is dismissed as not being worth a visit.

But having stayed in Bergamo many times I have found that there are a lot of buildings of historical importance on both sides of the walls.

Bergamo is an artistic and cultural treasure chest, but also has its own natural beauty, set among hills, mountains, lakes and rolling countryside.

The Città Alta is an impressive fortified town, which has retained many of its 12th century buildings and has had some stunning Renaissance and Baroque architecture added over the centuries.

The Roman column next to the church of
Sant'Alessandro is thought to mark the
spot where the saint was murdered

It is where the Venetian east meets the Lombardian west. Because they governed for so long, the Venetians have left behind traces of their culture and style, such as the ornate fountains.

One of the most historically important places in Bergamo is the spot where the patron saint, Sant’Alessandro, was decapitated by the Romans in 298 for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. Yet it is outside the walls in the Città Bassa.

A Roman column in front of the church of Sant’Alessandro in Colonna is believed to mark the exact spot where he was martyred.

Every year on 26 August Bergamo remembers Sant’Alessandro’s decapitation in 298. For the first time, in 2010, there was a re-enactment of the event in full costume at the scene as part of the annual Festa di Sant’Alessandro.

The church of Sant’Alessandro in Colonna was rebuilt in the 18th century on the site of a much earlier church in Via Sant’Alessandro. Its ornate campanile was completed at the beginning of the 20th century.

The church houses a work depicting the martyrdom of Sant’Alessandro by Enea Salmeggia and one showing the transporting of Sant’Alessandro’s corpse by Gian Paolo Cavagna. It also contains paintings by Renaissance artist Lorenzo Lotto, a Venetian who lived in Bergamo for 12 years.

Via Sant’Alessandro is an ancient winding street that leads down from Porta San Giacomo into the modern centre of Bergamo.

Yet the features and guide book entries that tell you there is nothing of interest in the Città Bassa completely overlook this area.

(An extract from ‘Why Bergamo inspires me as a writer’, a talk given to the Nottingham Dante Alighieri Society in March 2012).

For more information about Bergamo, visit my website www.bestofbergamo.com

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Bright fragrant mimosa signals respect for women

Yellow mimosa flowers (pic: Pixabay)

All over Italy, men will be seen carrying bunches of prettily wrapped mimosa to give to the woman in their lives today.

The flowers might be for their wives, girlfriends, mothers, friends or even employees and are meant as a sign of respect for womanhood.

The custom of men giving mimosa to their ladies began in the 1940s after the date 8 March was chosen as the Festa della Donna (Festival of the Woman) in Italy. The date coincides with International Women's Day.

Yellow mimosa was chosen as the flower to give because it is in bloom at the beginning of March, is relatively inexpensive and the scent of it in the atmosphere is a sign that primavera (spring) is just round the corner.

Continuing with the theme of mimosa, you might see on restaurant menus at this time of the year variations of dishes such as risotto mimosa or pasta mimosa (made with finely scrambled eggs).

And some cake shops will have Torta Mimosa in their windows, a concoction made with sugar, orange juice, whipped cream and orange liqueur.

Buona Festa!

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Bergamo airport is dedicated to an artistic genius

When booking flights to Italy you might be puzzled to see references to Caravaggio airport near Milan.

A portrait of Caravaggio
from about 1621

This is because Bergamo airport at Orio al Serio has changed its name to the Caravaggio International Airport Bergamo - Orio al Serio.

ENAC (the Italian civil aviation board) approved the decision by SACBO (the management company of Bergamo airport) to dedicate the airport to the controversial but highly talented painter Michelangelo Merisi.

Bergamo airport is also often referred to as ‘Milan Bergamo’. It is now the fourth busiest airport in Italy and you can fly to it from 29 different countries.

The artist Michelangelo Merisi became known as Caravaggio because he spent the early years of his life living in the small town of Caravaggio just south of Bergamo.

The painter is believed to have been born in Milan in 1571 but his family moved to Caravaggio because of an outbreak of plague.

He returned to train as a painter in Milan but then went on to work in Rome , Naples, Malta and Sicily until his death at Porto Ercole in Tuscany in 1610.

Caravaggio became famous for his paintings for churches and palaces that combine a realistic observation of the physical and emotional state of human beings with a dramatic use of lighting. This was a formative influence for the baroque school of painting.

Despite his artistic success he had a turbulent personal life. He was thrown into jail on several occasions, once vandalised his own apartment and had a death warrant issued for him by the Pope.

Some of his major works, such as The Calling of St Matthew, the Crucifixion of St Peter and Deposition, can be found in churches in Rome , but his work is also well represented in the Uffizi gallery in Florence.

The town of Caravaggio is worth visiting to see the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Caravaggio, which was built in the 16th century on the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a humble peasant woman.

The Sanctuary was later rebuilt and completed in the 18th century and is now a grand building visited by pilgrims from all over the world.

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Why I prefer to celebrate with Prosecco rather than Champagne

On Valentine’s Day, and any other occasions when there is an excuse to crack open the bubbly, you will find me drinking Prosecco.

A prosecco from
Valdobbiadene

A delicate, sparkling white wine, Prosecco is sold by the glass in bars in Italy and is a refreshing drink to order at any time of the day.

Named after the variety of grape it is made from, Prosecco is lighter and more delicate than Champagne because it is bottled while young rather than being fermented.

It is made in the areas of Valdobbiadene and Conegliano in the Veneto region, in the north east of Italy .

The grape, one of Italy’s oldest, was probably named after the town of Prosecco near Trieste, where it  is believed to have originated.

Italy produces 150 million bottles of Prosecco a year, mostly from the area around Valdobbiadene.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, Prosecco travels well. It is reasonably priced in the UK , ranging from £6 to £12 a bottle. It is best drunk young, the perfect excuse for not leaving it on the wine rack too long.

When on holiday in Italy, Prosecco is the ideal aperitivo to enjoy before lunch and dinner and is a refreshing drink to order in a bar when you are having a break from sight seeing. Salute!

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Italy images provide a welcome winter warmer

What could be more warming on a cold winter’s day than looking back at your summer travel photographs and remembering how hot it was when they were taken?

Yesterday, I was able to do just that by venturing out in the snow showers to W H Smith to buy a copy of the latest ITALIA! Magazine, which includes my feature on Cava de’ Tirreni, a town south of Naples and Sorrento set in the hills above the Amalfi coast.

The feature ‘48 HOURS IN Cava de’ Tirreni’ forms part of a Best of Campania special in the March edition of the magazine and is run alongside reviews of a hotel in Capri and one in Amalfi by boutique hotel booking specialists Mr and Mrs Smith, and an article exploring the property buying options in Campania.

Eagerly turning the pages with fingers numb with cold, I immediately remembered how warm it had been walking round Cava de’ Tirreni for two days last September and how pleasant it had been to escape for a few hours to the slightly cooler village of Corpo di Cava in the hills above the town.

Even some of the locals are wearing sleeveless tops and shorts in the pictures that accompany the feature.

On a day when I needed several layers of jumpers and fleeces to keep warm, it was lovely being transported back and remembering what it was like to be there.

ITALIA! magazine Issue 88 March 2012 is now on sale in branches of W H Smith. For more information about the magazine visit www.italia-magazine.com

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Beat the economic blues with a bargain break in Italy

With spending cuts and grim economic forecasts dominating the news, it would not be surprising if one of the first things you decided to give up was your holiday.

But I would argue that we all need our holidays more than ever at the moment to take us away from the daily routine of work and gloomy talk about recession.

And, in a strange way, there has never been a better time to afford a holiday, with the number of cheap flights and bargain hotel prices being advertised at the moment.

To keep the costs down still further, be prepared to stay in less well-known towns or resorts where not only are hotel rooms reasonably priced but day-to-day costs such as taxi fares and dining out are cheaper too.

Frascati's impressive 17th
century cathedral 

Frascati's impressive cathedral

If, like me, you are an Italophile and need your regular fix of Italy, you will find that there are currently some low-cost flights on offer for the wonderful cities of Rome,Venice and Milan.

But if you base yourself just outside these cities you will find you spend less, while still getting the chance to enjoy the same great atmosphere, architecture, food and wine.

If you can find a cheap flight to Rome (Ciampino), consider staying in the ancient, wine-producing city of Frascati, just down the road from the airport.

The city has the feel of Rome, but is on a smaller scale, with life at a less frantic pace. There are statues, fountains and stunning architecture, including a beautiful cathedral in the main square, and it is easy to walk round Frascati. On my last visit, a taxi driver told me how little crime there is in the area.

It is said that the delicious white wine that takes its name from the town ‘non viaggia bene’ (does not travel well), which is all the more reason to drink it there, in quaint wine bars serving it cheaply by the glass.

Villas built by wealthy Romans on the hills behind Frascati now lie in ruins, but there are elegant 16th and 17th century villas, such as the imposing Villa Aldobrandini, to look round.

Take the train to Rome (30 mins) and see the sights, but return in the evening to sit on a terrace sipping wine, looking down over the eternal city.

Padova's Basilica
of Sant'Antonio

The Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padova

If you can book a low cost flight to Venice (Marco Polo) or Treviso, why not go by train or taxi to nearby Padova (Padua), a sophisticated city with good shops, restaurants and hotels.

Padova’s Scrovegni Chapel contains one of the world’s greatest works of art, a complete cycle of frescoes painted by Giotto between 1303 and 1305, the first time an artist created life-like figures with realistic expressions.

Padova is home to one of the most important places of Christian worship, the Basilica di Sant’Antonio, where pilgrims pray to the saint.

Foodies will be fascinated by the variety of shops and stalls in the Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza delle Frutta.

You could take the train to Venice (35 mins) and arrive in style at Santa Lucia railway station on the Grand Canal. But return to Padova at night to enjoy an excellent meal, at a noticeably lower price than you would pay around St Mark’s Square.

The Colleoni Chapel 
is a Renaissance gem

The Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo

There are currently some bargain flights to be found for Bergamo Caravaggio airport, also known as Milan Bergamo. And you will be missing a trick if you don’t stay and explore Bergamo, a historic city with two distinct centres.

The upper town (Città Alta) is a beautiful, walled city with buildings that date back to medieval times, but there are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants to welcome visitors.

At the heart of the city is Piazza Vecchia, remodelled during the Renaissance and praised by architects as the most beautiful square in Italy.

Walk through the archways under Palazzo della Ragione to see the Colleoni Chapel, considered the finest Renaissance building in Italy.

The lower town (Città Bassa) also has elegant buildings and a good choice of restaurants and hotels. From there you could take the train to Milan (50 mins) to see the sights, but in the evening you will be glad to return to the peace of Bergamo and dine within its 16th century walls.

For much more detailed information about Bergamo visit www.bestofbergamo.com.

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