Notes from a Roman Terrace [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Joan Marble (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2004

Joan Marble has lived in a 16th-century Roman Palazzo apartment for 30 years. A lifetime of integrating with the Romans and gardening on her beloved terrace above the rooftops has resulted in this memoir. Highly personal and containing anecdote, history, and insight, Joan's experience of Rome and Romans is infected by her contagious fascination for plants, a hobby she shares every week with The Women's Gardening Club of Rome.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“…reads like a series of postcard invocations to Rome: beautiful, intimate, friendly, and welcoming to the gardener.” -- Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

For over 40 years, Boston–born journalist Joan Marble has lived with her husband in a 16th–century palazzo apartment in Rome. Notes from a Roman Terrace, her enchanting memoir, is the result of a lifetime of mingling with the natives and cultivating her beloved rooftop garden. Highly personal and brimming with anecdote, history, and insight, it ranges from gardening concerns—including the difficulties of rooftop irrigation and the Darwinian theory of earthworms—to informed views on everyday life in the city: of partying, politics, and popes, and dealing with those friends–of–friends who seem to land so regularly in Rome without accommodations. Imbued with a special feel for history and human observation, and scattered with serious gardening tips, this intimate record of Marble’s adopted home will enchant armchair travelers and gardeners alike. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Charnwood; large type edition edition (July 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843953730
• ISBN-13: 978-1843953739
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,454,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Italian flowers, vexations, and a happy half century, May 21, 2004

By 

Peter Bridges (Crested Butte, CO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Notes from a Roman Terrace (Hardcover)

Joan Marble died in Rome at the end of April 2004, soon after publication of her Notes from a Roman Terrace. She and her husband, Robert Cook the sculptor, spent over half a century together in Italy. It was a life that we can envy, though it had vexations--which eventually, in this fine book, she could laugh at. Her chapter on Robert's continuing battle with the bicycle thieves made me laugh out loud, as did her close observation of the work (or rather non-work) done by the Rome tax office beyond her windows.

Like her earlier Notes from an Italian Garden, this book has much to say both about Italian flowers and about Italy's current problems. Her book ends with the death of Indro Montanelli, Italy's most senior journalist, who saw Italy become one of the world's most prosperous nations but despaired of its becoming an ideal democracy. Joan Marble notes that Montanelli began his career at United Press. So did she; and had she lived longer she might have told us perceptive things about America's current problems. As it is, she has left us two fine books which I will want to keep re-reading for a very long time.