Customer Reviews

The Marvels of Rome: Mirabilia Urbis Romae

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Want to know about medieval and classical-era Rome? Here is a travel guide for pilgrims that touches on all the important "had to see" monuments, roads, landmarks, temples, and palaces. For centuries, this book and its various reprints were essential reading for anybody making the pilgrimage to Rome. The maps are astounding, if somewhat difficult to learn to read, but once you get used to them, you'll find it easy to flip through them. I used this book to get a feel for the history of Rome that fell between the classical era and the Renaissance. In this the book was completely satisfactory. I also used its maps to correlate with the Renaissance-era ones, since the major roads and monuments didn't change all that much. It was fun to see how the ancient pagan obelisks, temples, and arches matched up with the later churches and shrines. The Gazetteer gives some excellent flavor to the city, making it come alive. I had no idea Rome was so richly layered before reading this all-too-short book. I would say that it's not a modern popular history, so don't get this thinking you're going to get modern analyses of the era; it's a reprint of medieval works, so it's going to look a little dry. There is little explanation offered for anything in here, though there is a glossary. But for what it is, it's absolutely amazing, and I'm glad I ran into it.