When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City [Paperback]

Robert J. Hutchinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1998

Lighthearted and altogether fascinating, When in Rome is a delightful backstairs tour of one of the world's most mysterious and eccentric cities. With his wife and three young sons, Robert Hutchinson moved to Rome shortly before his thirty-ninth birthday, intending to explore the Vatican in depth. He sought to capture "the personality of the place: the smells and the traffic, the rich delicacies of Roman food, the perils of the Italian language, the way Italian monsignori push their way to the front of the line, just like their lay countrymen." When in Rome is the extraordinary journal of his Roman sojourn.

With playful good humor, Hutchinson introduces the varied and colorful individuals who live and work in the Vatican. In the process, he explores the mysterious orders of medieval knights, some dating back to the First Crusade, which still play a vital role in the Vatican; explains how bumbling Vatican archaeologists found, and then lost, the bones of St. Peter; probes the sex lives of the popes, from the "pornocracy" of Sergius III to the incestuous orgies of Rodrigo Borgia; experiences high fashion in the Holy See, including a visit to the pope's personal tailor; encounters the weird relics of Catholicism, such as the mummified body of St. Pius X and a museum made entirely out of human bones; recounts the true story behind the True Cross, now kept in a run-down church near the Colosseum; and much, much more.

Humorous, irreverent, but ultimately respectful, When in Rome does for the Vatican what A Year in Provence did for the French countryside, in an unforgettable and unprecedented eyewitness account of one of the most fascinating places on Earth.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Robert Hutchinson is on a mission: to explore the living center of the Roman Catholic Church. "Twenty years after my first visit to Rome I set out to rediscover the Vatican. I wondered how it would all seem, to a smart-aleck American writer and confused Catholic, to really poke around the place, talk to the people who actually run it." When in Rome is not a book of theology or politics, it's a compilation of the nitty-gritty, day-to-day inside stories of what really makes the Eternal City tick. "I wanted to know how much money a cardinal made, what those silly capelike outfits were called, where the Swiss Guards went drinking on their days off, and so on," explains Hutchinson.

This book is a collection of the best of his discoveries. Always with a sense of humor and a bottomless curiosity (sometimes irreverent, but never disrespectful), Hutchinson reveals how archaeologists found, then lost, the bones of St. Peter; he seeks erotic literature in the Vatican library to help him brush up on his Italian (when studying foreign languages he finds this genre increases his motivation to look up new words in the dictionary); he learns that "relics" in Rome range from right arms to foreskins; and devotes an entire chapter to the sex lives of the popes.

If Rome is on your itinerary, When in Rome is an excellent take-along read that will help make the Vatican City come to life. --Kathryn True

From Publishers Weekly

"One of the advantages of being a Catholic," begins our guide, former editor of Hawaii magazine and frequent writer about Catholicism and gambling, "is that you get to see a lot of beautiful naked women." It's a blatant hook, but Hutchinson (The Book of Vices) knows how to keep a tour group together as he leads the reader through a year (1996) poking around RomeAand into the business of the vaticanistiAwith a snappy style and an eye for detail. Hutchinson flirts with a gonzo persona, kvetching about what he's up against in the Curial bureaucracy when trying to get a good gossipy tidbit. If his humor is occasionally strained (as when he speculates that the pope would rather be in bed watching Beverly Hillbillies reruns), Hutchinson settles into a raconteur's tone that befits the epigrammatic company of such fellow writerly tourists as Chekhov, Twain and Martin Luther ("[The church] was too crowded, and I could not get in; so I ate a smoked herring instead"). He finds a nice balance of history, sex (oh, those Borgias), commerce, pageantryAand even a dollop of faithAas he ushers us from the Secret Archives to the Tower of Winds to Castel Gandolfo to the Scala Santa, and encounters the sampietrini, the Swiss Guard, a lot of weird relics and a number of loose canons (from Queen Christina of Sweden to "the only man in Rome who speaks Latin"). And every few chapters our guide manages to find time to sample some little restaurant he's discovered that has the best carbonara in Rome.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Main Street Books; 1st. ed edition (June 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385486472
• ISBN-13: 978-0385486477
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been a professional writer my entire life -- which means I've been fortunate to work at home and see my children grow up. I live with my wife and children in an old rambling house overlooking the sea that is packed full of books, pets, toys, half-eaten tomato plants, bikes, and general chaos.

As an author, I am most interested in practical ideas that impact how we live and thrive.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, very funny book!, January 12, 2000

By 

John Dionice (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City (Paperback)

Have you ever wondered just what goes on "behind the scenes" in Vatican City? Well, wonder no longer! When in Rome reveals many innermost and often-hidden secrets buried deep in the depths of the Vatican's cellars. It's an absolutely superb book. The few negative reviewers missed the humor... and concentrated on a few insignificant details. Most of them appear to be ultra-conservative Catholics who won't tolerate the least bit of criticism (even when meant in fun) by the author.

In fact, the author tells his first-hand investigative tale with passion, insight and a great deal of wit -- so much so that he had me bursting into laughter chapter after chapter. Hutchinson pulls no punches and is one of the few honest writers about the Vatican to go directly into the bowels of this treasured city. He plainly loves and admires the Vatican, Italy and even the Italian language -- which he said time and again he wished he knew better. When in Rome is truly a great read to be enjoyed by people of all faiths. It's such a light-hearted, yet fascinating book. Highly recommended.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Missing the point, I think, April 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City (Paperback)

Some of the other reviewers, that is.

I bought this book at the glorious Feltrinelli outlet by the Bargello in Florence on my way back to Rome for Easter Sunday. Sure, there are a few errors. But on the whole it's a fabulous book by a real Catholic who speaks for more than one of his fellow faithful in his lighthearted but respectful approach to the beautiful, colorful, and sometimes tedious history of the Catholic Church.

This book is for anyone who wants to know more than just the litany of architects who worked on St. Peter's or how many columns comprise Bernini's collonnade. This book is even more especially suited for those who make cursory, blanket statements about the hypocrisy of the church's wealth. The author jokes ironically about things like the Pope's tolerance for boredom (the "Beverly Hillbillies" joke so reviled by another reviewer) and the habits of a Gregorianum Latinist but puts a startlingly accurate picture of the modern Catholic attitude forward: whether they agree with him or not, Catholics have a certain fondness for this most recent Pope.

And Hutchinson is quite obviously in love with Italy. I think his comments on the lack of English in Italy were intended more to suggest the strange monolinguality of the Italians in comparison with the nationals of other European countries than to express a jingoistic annoyance that his own language wasn't commonly used. And as far as sexism goes . . . I think that's reading a bit too far into the text. There's nothing sexist about appreciating human beauty. The greatest writers go to great lengths to describe the beauty of people they encounter.

Altogether a fantastic book and a recommended read for anyone interested in the modern life of the Church's center.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent publication!, February 18, 2001

By 

S. Clarke "frogclaw" (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City (Paperback)

This book is one of the best I've read and is very informative about life inside Vatican City. Interspersed are excellent descriptions of various sites, including the Necropolis (City of the Dead). I am quite well-informed on Rome and I could not put this book down. It is No. 1 in my library of books on the subject of Rome!