Good reads about Rome

[revised December 2021]

When you prepare a trip to Rome, or on the opposite situation, when you  are leaving Rome after an intense holiday, you  generally want to know more! We are often asked for good reads to deepen your knowledge about this incredible city.

So here are some suggestions for you:

• SPQR: a History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
• The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
• Rome: the Biography of a City by Christopher Hibbert
• The Companion Guide to Rome by Georgina Masson
• The Cicero Trilogy by Robert Harris
• How to manage your slaves by Jerry Toner
• I, Claudius by Robert Graves,  and following chapters (see also what he wrote about Belisarius)
• The Assassination of Julius Caesar by Michael Parenti
• A day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela
• The Confession of Young Nero by Margaret George, and following chapter The Splendour before the Dark
• Ancient Rome Handbook, by Luisa Maesano
• Antonius Son of Rome, by Brook Allen and following chapters
• The families who made Rome by Anthony Majanlahti
• Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by King Ross
• The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
• The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini and the rivalry that transformed Rome by Jake Morrissey
• Bernini: his Life and his Rome by Franco Mormando

If you are travelling  to Rome with your kids, it’s a good idea to buy online Mission Rome by Catherine Aragon, an active booklet offering the chance to transform  your Roman Holiday into a scavenger hunt! We will be very happy to play and help your children in their mission during our tours. Let us know in your mail if you wish to play this game and we’ll plan the perfect itinerary to cover most of the sites included in the “hunt”.

Lastly, if you are planning a deep or long exploration in Rome, or if you have already been and want to visit again going beyond the “biggies”, I recently wrote a book with Bill Richards: “103 Other Adventures in and around Rome”, available on paperback and ebook!