Rome. Portrait of a City XL

Rome is the city where past and present, spectacle and everyday life collide at every turn; where baroque drama flourishes alongside ancient classical wonders; where hills stretch out to gaze upon Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel; and where Fellini immortalized la dolce vita . This photographic portrait of Rome shows all the history and wonders of an incomparable cultural capital .

Eternal City
A photographic portrait of Rome

This comprehensive photographic portrait of Rome brings together hundreds of photographs from the 1840s to the present day to explore the extraordinary history, beauty, and art of this incomparable cultural capital.

From sepia to black and white to color, these extraordinary images spanning the 1840s to the present allow us, through the eyes of photographers such as Giacomo Caneva, Pompeo Molins, Giuseppe Primoli, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Carlo Bavagnoli, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Pasquale De Antonis, Peter Lindbergh, Slim Aarons, and William Klein, to discover Rome in its many and compelling guises: as the center of the Roman Empire, as one of the cradles of the Renaissance, as a favorite destination for travelers and a rich mosaic of diverse neighborhoods, as the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, as a stage for politics, and as the perfect backdrop for film and fashion shoots.

Drawing on illustrious archives, some of the book's early images offer a privileged Grand Tour-style glimpse of some of Rome's most treasured monuments, revealing the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Spanish Steps almost devoid of crowds. Later images examine the city's contrasts, from the luxurious homes and leisure activities of the privileged to the street stalls and laundry lines in the working-class neighborhoods of Trastevere and Testaccio. Some documentary-style shots reveal Mussolini's dark power, the city adorned with his iconography and images of strength, athleticism, and homeland.

With the arrival of color photography, the city transitioned from a neorealist aesthetic to the revival and hedonism of the postwar era: all the glamorous dresses, exotic celebrities, and café culture of Via Veneto immortalized by Fellini. Many famous faces are present, including Louis Armstrong, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Anna Magnani, and Valentino.

The author
Giovanni Fanelli, professor of History of Architecture at the University of Florence, is the author of numerous works on the history of architecture, urban history, graphic design, and photography, translated into several languages. He was the scientific director of the Ragghianti Foundation (Lucca) and the editor of several series for the Laterza publishing house (Rome).

Rome. Portrait of a City
Hardcover, 25 x 34 cm
486 pages
English language