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Rome
Literary Atlas

Guides for this destination

17 books

A Time in Rome cover

A Time in Rome

Elizabeth Bowen

Elizabeth Bowen's account of a time spent in Rome is no ordinary guidebook but an evocation of a city - its history, its architecture and, above all, its atmosphere.

Travel writing
A Traveller in Rome cover

A Traveller in Rome

H.V. Morton

Morton explores Rome through travel and reflection, drawing the city's layered history into encounters with the life around him.

Essays
America's Rome cover

America's Rome

William L. Vance

American artists and writers encounter Rome across two centuries, revealing how the city helped shape their creative imaginations and cultural ambitions.

History
Before My Time cover

Before My Time

Niccolò Tucci

Tucci's family saga carries readers into turn-of-the-century Rome, where differences of class and circumstance shape the intimate texture of city life.

Literary fiction
History cover
Screen adaptation

History

Elsa Morante

A mother and her child struggle through wartime violence, as the forces of history bear down on lives with little protection from them.

History
Italy: The Fatal Gift cover

Italy: The Fatal Gift

William Murray

Essays and encounters reveal Murray's Italy through its people and Roman life, balancing enduring affection with an observer's questioning eye.

Essays
Literary Cities of Italy cover

Literary Cities of Italy

William B. Whitman

Walks and waterways guide readers through literary Rome, Florence and Venice, connecting the cities' streets with the writers who knew them.

Nonfiction
Rome and a Villa cover

Rome and a Villa

Eleanor Clark

Clark builds a sensuous portrait of Rome from memory and daily life, where history mingles with the city's sights and smells.

History
Rome: Places and Pleasures cover

Rome: Places and Pleasures

Kate Simon

Simon's observant portrait invites readers into Rome, offering a companion's eye for the city and the pleasures of discovering it.

Nonfiction
The Last Italian cover

The Last Italian

William Murray

Murray's portraits and Roman encounters capture a country he loves, without losing sight of the contradictions that complicate affection.

Essays
The Seventh Sinner cover

The Seventh Sinner

Elizabeth Peters

An art-history student's Roman studies turn dangerous when another scholar's murder draws her into a mystery among the city's learned circles.

Crime & mystery
The Sun and the Moon cover

The Sun and the Moon

Niccolò Tucci

A family's story opens onto Rome's social divisions, revealing the city's character through private lives around the turn of the twentieth century.

Literary fiction
The Three Romes cover

The Three Romes

Russell Fraser

Fraser considers Rome alongside Constantinople and Moscow, following the historical ambitions and urban lives that connect these competing imperial heirs.

Travel writing
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