Who would have thought it?

I woke up the other morning to find this little fellow threatening me with his lightsaber! I had thought he was a wee harmless angel, who just sat there, minding his own business. Had he come to life? What made him so unfriendly, all of a sudden? Or was it, perhaps just me, imagining things? Many people…

I doubt that Silvanus saw many motor boats from his hillside home on Elba. But he certainly watched the birds and shipping. And dreamed of adventure in the big, wide world. Perhaps that is what inspired me to take a day off work and go ‘sailing’ in the MS Panta Rhei on the Zürichsee. In spite…

Cerbonius was a colourful character. I could describe him as a priest, a refugee, a hermit, a bishop, a bear-tamer, an animal-lover, a miracle-worker. He caused a sensation as a papal visitor, but the Roman Catholic Church later canonised him. I like to remember him for his intimate relationship with God. St. Gregory the Great…

I just discovered a map Silvanus must have made, showing his treks across Ilva. How do you like it? Actually, it was made for him by a brilliant cartographer in Russia, Polina Vorontsova.

This is a copper engraving by the Dutch artists Willem Janszoon and Joan Blaeu, based on Giovanni Antonio Magini’s original of 1598. Many thanks to Paolo Ferruzzi, who keeps this map in his Academy of Works of Art in Poggio. Funnily enough, Silvanus’ map, though less elaborate, looks far more accurate to the modern eye.

I’ve come to a juicy episode, part of chapter 6. And the strange thing is that I feel deep emotion for the character I’m creating. The chapter introduces a runaway slave, whom Silvanus finds in the woods. Listen to the story and let me know what you think… “Aren’t you afraid of Jupiter and Mars…