the city, how­ever, does not tell its past, but con­tains it like the lines of a hand, writ­ten in the cor­ners of the streets, the grat­ings of the win­dows, the ban­is­ters of the steps, the anten­nae of the light­ning rods, the poles of the flags, every seg­ment marked in turn with scratches, inden­ta­tions, scrolls.

italo calvino