"Six and eighteenth century monuments, gardens, palaces with pot-bellied balconies, chapels, oratories, convents with large paintings, but above all habits, the way people move, the way of thinking and articulate words. The folk tales and even the official culture that, after all, had not gone beyond a pious enlightenment: from those places, you know, the French revolution has not passed."

“The city where I spent my childhood and adolescence was, in ancient times, the magnificent seat of King and Viceroy. And for historical reasons known and unknown, the imprint of the Baroque age had prevailed over others of more ancient and illustrious times. And that impression had been perpetuated over time, both in the appearance of things and in the character of men.”

“And the time, stopped for centuries, had not erased the dark and tragic memory of the Inquisition and the weight of the privilege of the great men of Spain.”

“I have lived in other cities, often equally and sometimes richer in historical and monumental testimonies, but where time has instead walked. And yet I met other counter-reforms, other inquisitions, others great from Spain.”