Anthony Majanlahti’s book, The Families Who Made Rome: A History and a Guide
is simultaneously a social history of Rome’s most noble families and a
guidebook that allows you to see Rome in a whole new way. If
you’ve ever wandered from Palazzo Barberini to Piazza Colonna or from
the Villa Borghese to the Palazzo Medici and wondered who built all
these grand palaces, piazzas, and gardens, then this book is for you!
The book
begins with an introduction to the “Broken City,” the Rome created by
the long Middle Ages, when power struggles and financial woes took
their toll on the city that had once been the capital of the Roman
Empire. From there, Majanlahti sets out to show us how the
magnificent Rome we experience today came into being and he places much
of the responsibility for the rejuvination of the city in the hands of
its most noble residents - families such as the Colonna, the Della
Rovere, the Farnese, the Borghese, and the Barberini.
The book
is divided into chapters that focus on the architectural and artistic
achievements of a particular family. These chapters make great
reading for the arm-chair traveler, but also serve as an interesting
guide for visitors to Rome.
Order The Families Who Made Rome from Powell’s
Chatto and Windus, 2005. ISBN 0701176873