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Man
who runs on
Strada Maggiore to Bologna
is the cover of the last book of John
Grisham The Broker, thriller that to the
tension of the protagonists he adds not
only to the taste for our language and
the hard work in order to learn it, but
thin pleasures of a refined and motivated
kitchen that he hands on himself like
an authentic cultural responsibility.
My background is
law, certainly not satellites or espionage.
I'm more terrified of high-tech electronic
gadgets today than a year ago. (These
books are still written on a thirteen-year-old
word processor.
When it stutters, as it seems to do more
and more, I literally hold my breath.
When it finally quits, I'm probably done,
too.)
It's all fiction, folks.
I know very little about spies, electronic
surveillance, satellite phones, smartphones,
bugs, wires, mikes, and the people who
use them.
If something in this novel approaches
accuracy, it's probably a mistake.
Bologna, however, is very real.
I had the great luxury of tossing a dart
at a map of the world to find a place
to hide Mr. Backman.
Almost anywhere would work.
But I adore Italy and all things Italian,
and I have to confess that I was not blindfolded
when I threw the dart.
My research (too severe a word) led me
to Bologna, a delightful old city that
I immediately came to adore.
My friend Luca Patuelli showed me around.
He knows all the chefs in Bologna, no
small feat, and in the course of our tedious
work I put on about ten
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