Scenes from a Roman Century

Description

Hollywood film stars, fascist assassins. Bombs on San Lorenzo, la dolce vita on Via Veneto. Baroque fountains, umbrella pines. Urban planning, unregulated house-building. After half a century living in Rome, David Lane turns his eye on events and streetscapes in the Eternal City over the past 100 years.

Scenes from a Roman Century begins with the 1924 murder of Giacomo Matteotti—the beginning of the end for interwar democracy—and ends with the organised crime and political violence of our own era. It sketches Rome’s growth under Mussolini’s dictatorship, and its fortunes during the Second World War; the economic miracle of the post- war decades; and Rome’s latest transformations through the turn of the millennium.

Lane sends readers meandering down the alleys, out towards the suburbs and to stand before the monumental architecture, capturing cultural and political moments from Rome’s past and present. He explores fascism’s material legacy across the city, terrorism and political extremism on the right and left, and the struggle to manage economic growth’s burdens—ugly urban sprawl, and the crush of mass tourism in the historic centre. As pilgrims descend for the 2025 jubilee declared by Pope Francis, what is next for this ever-changing city of history?

Author(s)

David Lane has lived in Rome since 1972, has written for The Guardian and the Financial Times, and was The Economist’s business and finance correspondent for Italy from 1994 to 2013. He was an officer in the Royal Navy from 1961 to 1966. His books include Berlusconi’s Shadow; Into the Heart of the Mafia; Italian Electricity; and two volumes of memoir.