Rabbit Quest really is fun home and away, offering at least one option for somewhere to go. This morning, first of a few days in Tuscany accompanying The Squeeze, the quest was about 1.5km away and reasonably close to a road. Off I went.

Walking in this part of the world at this time of the ye...

Today’s rabbit quest offered an interesting and impossible challenge: smack dab in the middle of the Regina Coeli prison in Trastevere. I got as close as I could.

Like I said, Monday offered perfect weather to extend my customary long bike ride. A lot. Instead of stopping at the Raccordo, I had resolved to continue to the sea and come back by train from Ostia. I made it, and I enjoyed it despite some faily hairy passages.

As you drive on the A1 out of Rome (and especially when returning to the city, there is a hugely impressive mountain to the west of the motorway. It rises up, floating on the plain and dominating the landscape. This is Mount Soratte, which Wikipedia tells me is an isolated limestone ridge, about 5.5 km long and boasting six separate peaks. It has been a draw for artists ever since Camille Corot changed landscape painting with his dazzling portraits of the mountain.

Many countries have academies in Rome, the most famous of them probably being the American Academy in Rome. Artists of various stripes enjoy a stipend and a variably good life, generally working on something to do with the city, and the various academies open their artists' studios to visitors from time to time. These are usually great fun, for art and for socialising. Last night was my first time at the Spanish Academy in Rome.

Wow!