Rome Paperback – 5 August 2010

This book is an encyclopedia of (perhaps) every known building from the Roman Republic and Empire in which some evidence of the building remains today. The book is incredibly comprehensive - I can't fathom how one person could accrue, organize and publish so much architectural knowledge. The book is written without prejudice, and makes clear when identifying features of an archeological site are conjecture. The author also presents competing interpretations of archeological finds, when both remain viableAs an architect, this book is all that I want when looking to understand the extant architectural ruins from 600 yrs of Roman building.

This book is outstanding! I thoroughly recommend this for any history buff that will visit the Eternal City and is particularly interest in the Roman period. Amanda Claridge will guide you through countless sights and neighborhoods of Rome, providing a very extensive historical perspective, such as building techniques and materials (and their sources), political, religious and social context as well as any changes in these throughout time, as it was frequent for buildings that stood ~2000 years in use.The book is expertly organized around different regions in Rome, zooming into the different buildings (some not easily seen, if at all) of each area. Each section has an overview map with labels, many pictures, illustrations, and drawings to better explain how the building looked like, how was decorated and how it fitted with the environment around it. Texts vary in depth and length, but all strike a very nice balance between detail and brevity. This makes the book extremely readable and a nice companion to bring along when visiting such sites.Having recently being to Rome, I cannot recommend this book enough: it massively improved my trip experience. Knowing details of how the buildings functioned, in what context and how that change gives you an enormously different perspective. The possibility of checking the text during the visit makes all the more enjoyable. If possible, I would recommend you read and highlight the most interesting parts, specially of the sights you intend to see. Not only you will help you prioritize in a city that has far too much to be seen even in a month, but you will arrive already armed with some knowledge and will help you to refresh your knowledge faster during the visit. The chapters on the areas in and around the Forum (Capitoline Hill, Palatine Hill), Campus Martius, Caelian and Viminal were the highlights, but the entire book is a joy to read and extremely useful for any tourist that wants to go deep into the historical Rome.

Very comprehensive

A must for travelers to the Ancient Rome

un libro completo relativo alle aree archeologiche di roma. utile e dettagliato più delle solite guide turistiche. Peccato per la copertina morbida che si rovina portandolo in giro.