SUNDAY

EXCURSION
"The Appian Way is incredible. Just outside of the city, it becomes an old paved Roman road just the way it was during the gladiator era. You'll find the same landscape as you'd see in movies like Spartacus. The ruins and the catacombs line both sides of the street. If the Colosseum gives you a feeling of ancient Rome, the Appian Way makes you feel that you're still in ancient times."

ONE MIRACULOUS NIGHT IN ROME

"In the summer of 1984, I was working on a film in Italy with Bob Hoskins and Anthony Hopkins and an international cast. It was eventually shown as a TV movie in the U.S. called Mussolini & I. I played Mussolini's daughter. I met up with Franco Amurri, who's now a writer/ director still living in Rome. Franco was working for Leonard Bernstein, translating his opera, which was being done in Italy. I was with another friend and I ran into him and we started dating. I was all over Italy that summer: Lake Como, Verona, everywhere, filming this thing about Mussolini, and spending time with Franco in Rome. We basically did Rome on a motorbike. That was the magic summer when I conceived my daughter. When I tell people that she was conceived on the Spanish Steps, they always have this image of us actually prone on the Spanish Steps. But in fact, it was in a room at the De La Ville hotel atop the Spanish Steps. It was more than magical. It was a miracle, because I was told I couldn't have children. Eva was born in March 1985. I stayed in Italy, living right off the Piazza del Popolo, and then near the Piazza Navona once my baby was born. I always tell people who have been trying to conceive but haven't that they should just go to Rome and eat and drink and be merry, and miracles will happen. I wasn't looking to get pregnant, and I wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant. What does that tell you about Rome? If you want to start a family, that's the place to go. If you want to start your life in any way, I recommend Rome."