On this day in 1820 the police in Rome began an investigation into the poet John Keats. On 18 December a local magistrate, Stanislao del Drago, first filed a report at the head office and the police opened a case, adding Keats’ name to the investigations register…

Starting this Sunday, and for the next ten weeks, I’ll be writing about the last days of John Keats in Rome. The concluding essay, at the end of February, will coincide with the poet’s death when I’ll be taking up a short residency at Keats-Shelley House to begin work on a new verse-drama, a contemporary retelling of the Keats story.

I’ll be sharing extracts and essays and will chart his journey from above a London pub in Moorgate to the Spanish Steps. We begin this weekend with a police investigation and Christmas with Keats in Rome…