Currently reading
A Thousand Bells at Noon: A Roman's Guide to the Secrets and Pleasures of His Native City by G. Franco Romagnoli.
A really good urban travel book is a companion that guides you through the streets of a city, opening your armchair traveller's eyes and ears and giving you an extra set of senses to amplify the sights and the sounds all around. Franco Romagnoli has written such a book for the lover of Rome, and it's convincing not only because he was born in the Eternal City, but also because his career has spanned such occupations as engineer, photographer, cinematographer, restaurateur, actor and cookbook author. As a result, he is ideally equipped to capture the essence of Rome: the loud traffic, fragrant markets, vigourous food and rascally bureaucratic corruption. He has an artist's eye for the sexuality of the statuary, a native's appreciation of the imperial hedonism of the residents and a technician's understanding of the enormous challenge Rome's administrators face in trying to serve the needs of three million inhabitants while running a city that houses both the government of Italy and the headquarters of a world religion.
The great value Romagnoli's book is that he's totally convincing when arguing that Rome is different from all other "monument" cities. Sure, it's a monument, but it's one that vibrates with a zest for life that nothing as ancient can match.
Montaigne, Stendhal, Hawthorne, James, Barzini... all have written about the 2,700-year history of Rome and, no doubt, other great writers will follow in their footsteps, but when I set out on my next pilgrimage there, it's Romagnoli's A Thousand Bells at Noon that I'll be taking with me.
