1 comments about History and Culture in Italy.

1. The author does a good job keeping the reader very interested with his wide-ranging stories about Italian architecture and his own personal stories while he lived in Rome for many years as a Cornell overseas graduate student.
   
   He stated many times that he loved best living in Rome; but he also kept reminding his readers that good jobs are hard to find in Italy for any outsider. So he knew his good life would end someday and his sadness came through his many stories that followed as he traveled throughout Italy and many other parts of Europe. (Note, I found out the same phenomenon of that only a few good jobs available to outsiders while I visited my family in Italy in 2001. So I too know firsthand that the author is telling the big, but often unspoken truth, on difficulty in finding good jobs in Italy and perhaps in other parts of Europe, as well.)
   
   Overall, I think, if the author had added some travel maps and some sketches of his art and architecture that he visited and often described, it would've been a bit more memorable for the average reader to relate to in this arcane subject of Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture.
   
   The author initial prefatory big claim is that "exploration of history and culture in Italy is an exploration of modern identity, in terms of language, institutions, self-consciousness, and self-expression." I think the author is on to something here with his claim.
   
   Finally, the author consciously chooses in presenting the information by subject rather than by other ways, such as chronologically, may be called into some question, because at times, it's hard to follow where the author is going next in his fast-paced travel schedule. This guy covers a lot of territory and without a decent map in the text it is almost impossible to really know where the heck he is going to next.
   
   Thus a little more thought should be given to how best to present all the data and information he had gathered for so many years while living and traveling in Italy, Poland, Greece and beyond.
   
   Gerard J. Sagliocca, P.E.
   
   gerard_sagliocca@yahoo.com

No comments about Rome: Then and now.

1 comments about Black Horse Odyssey: Search for the Lost City of Rome in China.

1. Being a lover of all things ancient Roman, from the Latin language to the classical culture and also being a longtime student of Latin and Mandarin, I was very much looking forward to this book.

   However, from the viewpoint of the anticipated content of this book, and its actual contents, I was disappointed. I was expecting a 'blow by blow' description of the search for the ancient Roman heritage of Li-Jien (the Roman influenced towns of ancient China) and its discovery; but instead it was more of a 'how to survive in China on $10 a day' book combined with social commentary and an insight into the author's lovelife. As an Australian myself (the author is Australian), I was hoping for more.

   However, disregarding the above, it was still an enjoyable read; but not what I wanted when I purchased the book.

   This in mind, would I buy it again: yes; hence the 3 stars.

No comments about Peloponnesiaca: a Supplement to Travels in the Moréa.

No comments about Arm in Arm Round Rome (7 Magnificent Walking Courses to See Rome in a Few Days).

No comments about There's No Place Like Rome (Great Cities Adventures).

No comments about Rome.

No comments about Vroom with a View : Milan to Rome on a '61 Vespa.

1 comments about Imperial Rome.

1. Excellent reference, especially for young people. I'll never give up my copy. It is also a good coffee table book. Does not have the depth of a text book.

No comments about To and from Rome,.