I never quite considered Italy much of a “vacation” spot as much as it is a place for spiritual reorientation. I was there for the last week doing research for a story I’m writing, and although it wasn’t my first time there, there’s always a virginal bliss to Italy. When asked by an American professor at the University of Kansas I met there if I was traveling alone, I said I was. She said, with commiseration, that traveling Rome shouldn’t be done alone. I thought, it ought to be. At least once.

I spent most of my week 25 miles from Rome, but bookended my trip in the city, staying in modest hotels and relying on the city’s whimsy to pull me into its arms. My first day there was spent seeing my favorite work of art, Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s David, at the Galleria Borghese, in person.