Customer Reviews

Little-Known Museums in and Around Rome

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Surprised nobody has commented on this item yet. Having lived in rome many years, I am suffering from the traditional guidebook fatigue, and lately, to kill boredom, if I find a new guidebook by someone entering the guidebook market, I usually browse it and in a couple of hours quickly find a list of factual errors. But this one is different. First of all, was impressed by the original photographs. Curators are usually very protective of their collections, specially from commercial photographers. It is obvious that the author had many friends that got her in (... and that is explained in the acknowledgments). Then, the factual linkages between the many historical facts. Shows that it has been very throughly researched (.. and again aknowledged in the help by American Academy folks et al). The quality of the paper is very good. The list of these little-known museums very well chosen. Most likely the contact info on how to arrange the tours is probably obsolete by now, but that is the nature of Italian offices and bureaucracies. Was disappointed that the book did not include the appartment of Via Tasso 145, that is known as Museo della Liberazione, but I can see how seeing the rooms where people were tortured by the Nazis can be not appropriate for everyone.

While staying at the American Academy in Rome last year we came upon this little gem of a guidebook that a previous tenant had left behind. Thoroughly enjoyed exploring some of suggested sights, our favorite being the Villa Torlonia, which was commandered by Mussolini during the war as his residence. The fenced in grounds contain the restored Villa, several small museums with interesting collections, and a very nice restaurant in the former Limonerie. Our favorite though was the "Owl House" a delightful Arts and Crafts gem with beautiful stained glass, tile and eleborately carved wood and plaster decorations in every room. We hope Ms. Kaplan updates this guide soon and look forward to using her other ones in our future travels.