The Watchmaker

A childhood year living in a medieval Italian city has haunted – in a friendly way – all of the other places I've ever lived.

When I first arrive it will look remarkably like the upper city – Città Alta – in Bergamo, Italy.

Bergamo was the walled medieval town where I lived for a single year as a child. It had cobblestone streets, a piazza with a fountain littered with coins that were free for the taking if you’d only stick your skinny bare arm into the cold fountain water. It…