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Roman Holiday

30th December 2007 by Helena 3 Comments  

Not since Audrey Hepburn was there has there been such a pretty visitor to Rome. Yesterday Olivia and I took the train (and the strain, it was 30 minutes late) and went into town.

“Do you realise that since we got to Italy we have eaten pasta every lunch and every dinner?” Olivia said to me once we were finally on the train. “We could eat pizza too, you know.”

Once in town we jumped on a bus to the Spanish Steps. You couldn’t actually see the steps for the amount of people there but it was lovely to be there, mainly trying to sell us useless things to throw in the air or fake handbags (actually not a bad buy for 20 euros compared to 1850 euros for the real thing at Gucci down the road).

Olivia’s favourite sight was the Trevi Fountain. I covered her eyes until we got to a peak viewing spot and then lifted her up above the crowds.

“I want exactly the same in our garden,” she announced.

Olivia was amazed by the Pantheon, she thought the ceiling was “drawed” and was most impressed with the irrigation system. I am guessing this is hereditary. Her father has just finished writing a book about water.

We decided against the pizza and ate lunch in a restaurant my parents used to go to called Nino’s when they lived in Via Frattina, close to the Spanish Steps. Olivia had Fettucine al Ragu and I had Penne all’ arrabbiata. It is one of those lovely old-fashioned places with white linen and professional waiters. I sat there gazing at this litte girl, so elegant and grown-up opposite me, eating her pasta with confidence, and felt extremely proud of her.

Mouth of Truth

After lunch we went for an ice-cream in Piazza Navona. Sadly there was a kind of Christmas fair going on with all sorts of dreadful stalls and poisonous food for sale. We couldn’t see the square but the Bernini fountain was covered in scaffolding anyway.

We’ll just have to come back. As Audrey Hepburn’s character says when asked which city she has enjoyed most on her European tour: “Rome, by all means Rome”.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2007


Filed Under: Italy, Travel, blog --> Tagged With: holiday, roman

3 thoughts on Roman Holiday

  • Anne Woodyard says:
    5th January 2008 at 11:00 pm

    Just catching up since we’ve been busy with Umbria Jazz Winter. Surprised to hear that the street vendors of fakes are still active in Rome. In Florence, we saw nary a one, and there were signs all over to the tune of “Say No to Fakes”. On all previous trips – as recently as July, we’ve had to dodge the blankets spread out on the cobblestones, laden with purses, sunglasses, etc., and it was a pleasure to NOT have to do so this trip. Maybe the restrictions will arrive in Rome soon.
    Auguri from Cremona-
    Anne

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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