Europe - Italian Architecture, Architecture - Travel Guides, Cities of Italy - Rome - Travel

An Architect's Rome

Name: An Architect's Rome
Author: John M. McGuire, Jr.
ISBN: 9780821219546

by John M. McGuire, Jr.

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Overview

Rome is a vibrant city, with nearly thirty centuries of history. It is a place where Classical ruins rise next to the elegant facades of Baroque buildings, where stone medieval churches are situated beside sleek modern structures. The Eternal City is a city of architectural contrasts and a delight to many travelers. An Architect's Rome, second volume in the Bulfinch Architecture/Travel Series, focuses on both the highly visited sites of the city's architectural heritage and numerous out-of-the-way places that will be a revelation to even the most Roman of tourists. Through sketches and prose, John M. McGuire, Jr., and the reader explore Rome together, street by street, piazza by piazza, to discover often overlooked architectural aspects of such famous sites as the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and San Giovanni in Laterano. An Architect's Rome is organized by walks through districts and includes relevant points of history and lore, building technique and style, and up-to-date restoration information. Useful freehand plans provide an immediate glimpse of the bones and structure of the buildings and streets of Rome. A color-coded map helps the reader navigate through the sixteenth-century roads laid out by Pope Sixtus V. Finally, the author takes us on day trips to Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa, the Villa d'Este, and Ostia Antica. Both a travel essay and an art book, An Architect's Rome is the perfect size to accompany any sophisticated tourist with an interest in seeing and understanding the "bones" and buildings of Rome, whether on foot or in the comfort of a favorite armchair.