7 WONDERS: CLAIRE TOMALIN

The acclaimed biographer of Pepys, Hardy and Austen loves fine views, steep hills and places that transcend tourism. She tells Rebecca Willis about the wonders of her world ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Spring 2009

CITY: ROME
ROME I have been going to Rome since the 1970s, and I have a rule that if ever I’m asked to give a talk there I say yes. The obvious point about Rome is that it is a layered city: it has the Pantheon, the Forum and all the classical ruins, the Renaissance palaces, the Baroque churches...not to mention the Vatican and the Castel Sant’Angelo. It’s very hard not to have a series of perfect days; Rome offers itself so well to being visited. You can walk everywhere—all you need is a pair of comfortable shoes—and there’s always something good to eat or drink. Although Rome is a huge tourist city, it manages not to feel like one; there are still real shops, and it’s nice to walk along working streets.

BUILDING: THE HOUSE OF PILATUS, SEVILLE
The man who created this large, complex house in the 16th century had been to the Holy Land and visited ruins associated with Pontius Pilate, so he named this one after them. He’d travelled back through Italy, seen Renaissance architecture, bought Greek and Roman statues and reliefs to bring back, and employed Italian craftsmen and builders. What he created is a magical mixture of Moorish, Gothic and Renaissance architecture. There is a series of courtyards and patios with columns and arches, rather like secular cloisters. There are several gardens, open staircases and galleries, loggias, palm trees, flowers, pools, fountains. It has all been built for keeping cool in the intense summer heat of southern Spain. I love houses and gardens that open into each other, so you are not quite sure whether you are inside or out.

BEACH: ON KYTHERA, GREECE
My favourite beach has no name that I know of. It is on the island of Kythera, the Cytherea of ancient Greece. Watteau’s painting “L’embarcation pour Cythère” made me want to take a boat from the Pelopponese and make my own embarkation for Cytherea, so we did. On the island we found a perfect beach in a cove that you had to climb down to—not a difficult climb, just enough to deter the faint-hearted. Clear blue water, pale sand, rocks from which you could dive to your heart’s content, and so few people about that you did not need to wear bathing suits. After a morning swimming and diving you climbed up, drove a mile to a taverna of extreme simplicity where you sat under a vine and were brought fish, herbs and retsina—then back to the beach. It was like heaven.

WORK OF ART: CAMERA DEGLI SPOSI
This room painted in the 15th century in the Castello di San Giorgio in Mantua knocks you over. Mantegna had a perfect command of perspective and all his figures are wonderfully solid and lifelike. Two of the walls are painted with curtains, and two show scenes in the world outside. One is of court life, with seated ladies, children and attendants in a garden or open courtyard. The other shows the arrival of Francesco Gonzaga, Mantegna’s patron, who was a cardinal (a worldly one, I’d say). He has a huge grey horse and dogs, there are more beautifully dressed children, and servants in tights with one red leg and one white. Mantegna’s depicting formal occasions, but you feel you are looking at the real world, catching it unawares.

JOURNEY: DENVER TO LOS ANGELES
We had to go to LA, and decided to fly to Denver, hire a car and drive from there. It was a memorable trip. First through the Rockies—at Independence Pass my husband Michael [Frayn] turned blue and faint because of the altitude. Then through deserted silver towns, and to Mesa Verde, where there are Anasazi cave dwellings in the cliffs which you can peer into. On to Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet in spectacular red landscapes of buttes and mesas. We visited two canyons, the exquisite red Canyon de Chelly, still inhabited by the Navajo, and the Grand Canyon which, although highly organised for tourists, is so huge that it transcends tourism. And on into the desert towards LA.

HOTEL: LA CHAINE D’OR, LES ANDELYS, NORMANDY
I like quiet, small, unpretentious hotels with views, simple rooms and good cooking. This one is on the Seine in Normandy, below the ruins of the huge Château Gaillard, built unbelievably in a single year by Richard the Lionheart in 1197. It was reduced to ruins by Henri IV of France in 1603, but it remains one of the great sights of France. The hotel is named for the chain that used to be across the river, marking the toll place. Food excellent, bedrooms comfortable, and you earn your pleasure with the hard scramble up to the ruins. You explore the castle, then make your way down for dinner overlooking the river.

VIEW: FROM RICHMOND HILL
This famous view over the Thames is part of the English consciousness, written about by James Thomson, painted by Turner, and now our daily walk up the steep hill (we live at the bottom). Looking down, you see the river spreading out as wide as a lake, and when it reflects the afternoon sun it shines the colour of brass. I believe that is why the old name for Richmond was Sheen. Because the Thames is tidal here, the view is ever-changing: cows stand in water meadows which are sometimes under water, or even ice; pleasure boats pass, canoes and sometimes sails. There are swans and herons. The view is best from the terrace at the top, where people walk up and down in the evening, like a passeggiata—then it feels almost like a continental town.