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Music:
I head to
Fanfulla 101 in
Pigneto to relax
with live music and
DJs. It’s a members’
club – you join on
the door (€5) and
after that it’s free. A
second venue, Forte
Fanfulla, is down the
street.
Via Fanfulla da
Lodi 101, San Lorenzo,
Myspace.com/
fanfulla101
Lanificio 159 is a bit
trendy, a bit more
expensive and is run
by a great group
of music bookers.
Via Pietralata 159a,
Lanificio159.com
Parco Della Musica
is Italy’s best venue
for modern music
(closed in August).
Auditorium.com
Coffee Shop:
Lo Yeti
in Pigneto is like a US
coffee shop – you can
spend all day there.
It has organic food,
home-made cakes,
and an outside area
with a grapevine.
Via Perugia 4,
Loyeti.org
Restaurant:
At La
Pigna, there’s no
written menu, they
just tell you what
they've cooked. They
make a dessert, il
Girasole (sunflower),
with a secret recipe
that I’ve been trying
to get out of them
for years.
Piazza
della Pigna 54
SYLVIE
RECOMMENDS
58
WIZZ MAGAZINE
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2012
FEATURE
ROME
But wanderlust took over. “There was a lot
of conformity in LA. I didn’t want to make
‘Starbucks music’,” she explains. “And I needed to
be nearer to my London family. But not too near.
I had dreamt of being in Barcelona and wanted
to go somewhere I didn’t speak the language and
couldn’t be distracted. But while I was in Spain
I fell in love and moved to Rome.
“Living in Rome has brought out some things
that were already there in my music. Working
with the Orchestra is like studying world music,
but doing it all from one place. Fortunately
that place is one of the most astonishingly
beautiful cities in the world.
“One of the things I love doing here are night
walks. I wait until it is really late at night and
I ramble around the city. My favourite place is
the Coliseum; it is well lit, cool in summer and
there are no tourists.”
Sylvie’s first home in the Eternal City was in
Pigneto, a working-class quarter which artists are
now turning into Rome’s Greenwich Village. She
now lives in the more central area of Monti.
“Italians have a reputation as being
easy-going like Brazilians. But Roman society can
be quite closed and harder to get to know than I
imagined. When I first arrived I was a bit lonely,
but people around here are warm-hearted and
generous. Once I ran out of herbs and the shops
were closed. I went into a local café and the
owner asked me to take over at the cash register
while he went into the kitchen and came back
with a lovely bunch of fresh parsley.”
Later this year Sylvie will be touring Italy in a
project called
nightbecomesmorning
– a mixture
of Brazilian, Italian and English music. She will
also be back on stage with the Orchestra Piazza
Vittorio to celebrate their 10th birthday.
And her Roman adventure continues. “There’s
always something for me to enjoy here; the smell
of pine needles that have fallen beneath the
tree, or a bright star in night sky.” Clearly Sylvie’s
night-time walks are proving an inspiration.
Sylvie’s new album of her own folk-pop songs,
It’s All True, is out now. For news on upcoming gigs,
visit Sylvielewis.com/home.htm
IN THE MULTI-ETHNIC
ADAPTATION OF MOZART’S
THE MAGIC FLUTE