Rome and a Villa

“These essays gather up Rome and hold it before us, bristling and dense and dreamlike, with every scene drenched in the sound of fountains, of leaping and falling water.”  — The New Yorker

“Perhaps the finest book ever to be written about a city.” — New York Times

Bringing to life the legendary city's beauty and magic in all its many facets, Eleanor Clark's masterful collection of vignettes, Rome and a Villa, has transported readers for generations.

In 1947 a young American woman named Eleanor Clark went to Rome on a Guggenheim fellowship to write a novel. But instead of a novel, Clark created a series of sketches of Roman life written mostly between 1948 and 1951. Wandering the streets of this legendary city, Eleanor fell under Rome's spell—its pace of life, the wry outlook of its men and women, its magnificent history and breathtaking contribution to world culture. Rome is life itself—a sensuous, hectic, chaotic, and utterly fascinating blend of the comic and the tragic. Clark highlights Roman art and architecture, including Hadrian's Villa—an enormous, unfinished palace—as a prism to view the city and its history, and offers a lovely portrait of the Cimitero acattolico—long known as the Protestant cemetery—where Keats, Shelley, and other foreign notables rest.

Eleanor Clark’s timeless portrait of Rome reveals:

• A Classic Literary Travelogue: Discover the city through the eyes of a young American writer on a Guggenheim fellowship, as Eleanor Clark captures the spell of post-war Rome in a series of masterful vignettes.
• Art and Architecture as a Prism: Go beyond the guidebooks with a deep, personal exploration of the city’s treasures, using Hadrian’s Villa as a unique prism to understand Rome’s magnificent history.
• Vivid Sketches of Roman Life: Immerse yourself in the sensuous and fascinating pace of life in the Eternal City, where the comic and the tragic blend on every chaotic street corner.
• Keats and Shelley in Rome: Visit the Cimitero acattolico, the Protestant cemetery, in a lovely and moving portrait of the final resting place of Keats, Shelley, and other foreign notables.