Zanardelli’s Folly

ur apartment on Via Andrea Doria was near the Vatican, and only a step or two from Cipro metro station; but to reach the area around Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, it was easier to take bus 492. Or rather, it was easier if the bus arrived on time – or at all. Line 492 was notoriously unreliable. I can still remember the thrill of joy I always felt when the bus would lumber around the corner, forty-five minutes late, onto Via Candia, and proceed with all the urgency of a tree sloth toward the bus