The Companion Guide to Rome (7th ed.)

(The author) has an observant and enthusiastic eye, she writes elegantly and with warmth, and knows her subject inside out.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH The best guide to Rome published for many a long year SUNDAY TIMES Rome is a city with over 2,500 years of history, with buildings and art treasures representative of much of that time; as Augustus Hare wrote, the fascination lies in the discovery of 'ancient cloister and sculptured fountain, of mouldering fresco and medieval tomb - of mosaic-crowned gateway and palm-shadowed garden - and the gradually acquired knowledge of the wondrous story which clings around each of these ancient things'.

Georgina Masson's book provides the perfect companion to this voyage of discovery, including both the great sights - the Colosseum, the Forum, the Vatican Palace and many more - and the smaller corners of Rome's squares and streets; she guides the visitor equally skilfully though the maze of the Roman past. And she evokes the reactions of earlier travellers to Rome, who, like the author of the twelfth-century pilgrims' guide to the marvels of the city, have been equally entranced by the city's classical monuments and its Christian heritage. Her book has long been recognised as a classic, and is now presented in a fully revised and updated edition.