The Rough Guide to Rome, Second Edition [Paperback]

Martin Dunford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2005

The Rough Guide to Rome is the definitive guide to this enthralling city. This new edition includes a 24-page full-colour introduction to the city and its many highlights - from the Sistine Chapel to the Catacombs. Throughout the guide there are entertaining accounts of every sight and activity along with the pick of the best hotels, restaurants and bars that the city has to offer. The guide also includes accounts and practical details of all the day trips possible from the capital, including Tivoli, Ostia and the nearby beaches. There are over 25 maps and plans covering every part of the city, pinpointing the locations of the restaurants, hotels and guesthouses included in the listings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Martin Dunford is one of the original founders of Rough Guides, and the author of several Rough Guide titles, including those to Amsterdam and New York.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction Of all Italy's historic cities, it's perhaps Rome which exerts the most compelling fascination. There's more to see here than in any other city in the world, with the relics of over two thousand years of inhabitation packed into its sprawling urban area. You could spend a month here and still only scratch the surface. As a historic place, it is special enough; as a contemporary European capital, it is utterly unique. Perfectly placed between Italy's North and South, and heartily despised by both, Rome is perhaps the perfect capital for a country like Italy. Once the seat of a great empire, and later the home of the papacy, which ruled its dominions from here with a distant and autocratic hand, it's still seen as a place somewhat apart from the rest of Italy, spending money made elsewhere on the corrupt and bloated government machine that runs the country. Romans, the thinking seems to go, are a lazy lot, not to be trusted and living very nicely off the fat of the rest of the land. Even Romans find it hard to disagree with this analysis: in a city of around four million, there are around 600,000 office-workers, compared to an industrial workforce of one sixth of that. For the traveller, all of this is much less evident than the sheer weight of history that the city supports. There are of course the city's classical features, most visibly the Colosseum, and the Forum and Palatine Hill; but from here there's an almost uninterrupted sequence of monuments - from early Christian basilicas, Romanesque churches, Renaissance palaces, right up to the fountains and churches of the Baroque period, which perhaps more than any other era has determined the look of the city today. There is the modern epoch too, from the ponderous Neoclassical architecture of the post-Unification period to the self-publicizing edifices of the Mussolini years. All these various eras crowd in on one other to an almost overwhelming degree: there are medieval churches atop ancient basilicas above Roman palaces; houses and apartment blocks incorporate fragments of eroded Roman columns, carvings and inscriptions; roads and piazzas follow the lines of ancient amphitheatres and stadiums. All of which is to say that Rome is not an easy place to absorb on one visit, and you need to approach things slowly, even if you only have a few days here. You can't see everything on your first visit to Rome, and there's no point in even trying. Most of the city's sights can be approached from a variety of directions, and it's part of the city's allure to stumble across things by accident, gradually piecing together the whole, rather than marching around to a timetable on a predetermined route. In any case, it's hard to get anywhere very fast. Despite regular pledges to ban motor vehicles from the city centre, the congestion can be awful. On foot, it's easy to lose a sense of direction winding about in the twisting old streets. In any case, you're so likely to come upon something interesting it hardly makes any difference. Rome doesn't have the nightlife of, say, Paris or London, or even of its Italian counterparts to the north - culturally it's rather provincial - and its food, while delicious, is earthy rather than haute cuisine. But its atmosphere is like no other city - a monumental, busy capital and yet an appealingly relaxed place, with a centre that has yet to be taken over by chainstores and big multinational hotels. Above all, there has perhaps never been a better time to visit the city, whose notoriously crumbling infrastructure is looking and functioning better than it has done for some time - the result of the feverish activity that took place in the last months of 1999 to have the city centre looking its best for the Church's jubilee, which they expect to attract several million extra visitors. On the surface the city still looks much as it has done for years. But there are museums, churches and other buildings that have been "in restoration" as long as anyone can remember that have reopened, and some of the city's historic collections have been rehoused, making it all the more easy to get the most out of Rome. Opening Hours Most shops and businesses don't open until lunchtime or late afternoon on a Monday; during the rest of the week, opening times are generally Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to around 1pm, and then 4pm until around 7.30pm - although there are a few places in the city centre that are open right through. Most places are closed on Sundays. All but the most popular or touristed churches keep to fairly predictable hours, most opening early each morning, at 7am or 8am, and closing up around noon, and opening again from 4pm until around 7pm.

Archeological sites keep longer hours, usually open from dawn until dusk. Most museums are closed Mondays, and then open from around 10am to 6pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and for half the day on Sunday. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 2 edition (February 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858289017
• ISBN-13: 978-1858289014
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,982,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide for wandering the city, August 23, 2000

By 

Meriah L. Crawford (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mini Rough Guide to Rome, 1st Edition (Rough Guide Mini Guides) (Paperback)

Rome is a confusing maze of twisting streets and alleyways. This book has great maps in the back that are invaluable for finding your way around, as well as a good list of places to see, hotels, restaurants and shops. The ones I selected based on the guide were all as promised. And because it's so small it's easy to carry. Perfect for a short trip to Rome.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars perfect if you're visiting for a weekend or a year, March 17, 2002

By 

Nancina T (Reno, NV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mini Rough Guide to Rome, 1st Edition (Rough Guide Mini Guides) (Paperback)

I bought this book while I was living in Rome, and in my six months there saw nearly all the sights listed and more. I especially loved the book's size--I could hide it in my pocket and not look so much like a tourist, and I didn't have to walk around with a big huge map unfolded in front of me. If only the maps in the book could be a little more detailed (like, including the names of the piazzas and churches mentioned in the text!). The bars and restaurants recommended are places I actually went and would recommend to other travelers.
I did find some errors in the text, but unless you're searching for specific works of art, etc. like I do, this shouldn't be a problem. Definitely my favorite of my 5+ Rome travel guides.. I like it even more than the one in Italian!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book is a Little Gem!, December 28, 2005

By 

Les Sheppard "lets-travel-rome.com" (Portsmouth, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rough Guide to Rome, Second Edition (Paperback)

If you want the real lowdown, and the fine detail on travel to Rome, this is the best guide book I've found. There are literally hundreds of recommendations for places to shop, see, eat and stay. I checked out the restaurants mentioned around The Spanish Steps, and completely agree with their picks. As someone who makes part of their living by writing about Rome, through my web site, I can tell you that this is a well researched, up to date book that will not disappoint.