"One evening I had a new feeling, so beautiful I wished I could lose myself. For the first time I saw the splendor of that square. Suddenly I realized I hate travelling because it's all looking and running away. Instead, I love living in a place, observing it from within..."

Nicola Piovani, Oscar prize for soundtrack in "Life is beautiful" by Roberto Benigni, 1999

“From the night of time, it has been sailing; it has touched all ports, has rubbed against all shores, all the quays; on her fish scales remain traces of middle-eastern mother-of-pearl, transparent Phoenician sand, Greek mollusks, Byzantine seaweed...”

Tiziano Scarpa, Venice is a fish,  2000

“No matter what you set out for as you leave your house here, you are bound to get lost in these long, coiling lanes and passageways that beguile you to see them through, to follow them to their elusive end, which usually hits water, so you can’t even call it a cul-de-sac.”

Iosif Brodskij, Watermark, 1989