“Should we?” I said to my daughter. And of course she answered, “We should.”Our husbands rolled their eyes – they’re off again they commiserated.Spring can be pretty dull in Seattle and we needed some sun (and of course good food, wine and shopping). I hadn’t been in Italy since…

The most spectacular Roman remains from the Imperial period were in front of my office, but the walk to the trattoria in the opposite direction was an immersion in ever more layers of the complexities comprising Italian history from Rome’s earliest days until the present. On the way I…