“You may have the universe if I may have Italy” ― Giuseppe Verdi

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I like the way my heart beats in Rome. Isn't that the most romantic sentence you've ever heard? Actually, I would have really loved to be the author of those beautiful words, but it turns out Marlena de Blasi beat me to the honor. So let me start again. Marlena de Blasi once said, "I like the way my heart beats in Rome." So, if she really is the author, there must be telepathy between us. Ok, ok... it's not telepathy either, as she wrote those words years before I even visited Rome. Oh well... I still like the way my heart beats in Rome. It also turns out this is an endemic condition: All hearts beat more passionately in the Eternal City, and everywhere in Italy for all that matters! "Who woulda thunk!" as my Tina always says. 

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