The Ultimate Rome Guidebook: 'As Long as St. Peter's Stands' — Reading this will definitely make Rome even more enjoyable!

The 'Eternal City' of Rome offers new discoveries every time you walk through it. This book is an 'essay-style' guide to Rome in which an up-and-coming art historian explains ruins, basilicas, fountains, and squares while actually walking through them, incorporating historical episodes. A must-have for any trip to Rome.

Rome, which Goethe marveled at by saying 'all of world history is connected to this place,' is a city of endless interest, filled with historical and artistic heritage that conveys its magnificent history to the present day. Therefore, countless guides to Rome have been written since 'The Marvels of Rome,' which was widely read in the Middle Ages. However, strangely enough, in Japan, apart from a few books dealing only with ancient ruins, no full-scale books about Rome have been written.

This book is the first full-scale guide to Rome in our country, written by an up-and-coming art historian who stayed in Rome, read through various documents, and personally examined many monuments.

The author attempts to approach the overall picture of the 'Eternal City' by detailing major ruins, basilicas, squares, and fountains from ancient times through the Middle Ages and the Baroque period to the modern era. The explanations are backed by profound knowledge, delicate sensitivity, and sincere love for Rome, yet they are simple and easy to read. Readers who grasp the charm of Rome through this book will surely have their passion for travel awakened.
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Until the 19th century, it was normal for travelers coming to Rome by land from various European countries, even those who came through Tuscany and the Via Cassia, to enter the city of Rome from the Porta del Popolo, the northern gate of Rome, via the Via Flaminia. Montaigne, Goethe, and Stendhal all saw Rome for the first time after passing through the Porta del Popolo.

In contrast, it is normal for us to arrive at Termini Station by train, or arrive at Fiumicino Airport, take a limousine to Termini Station, and start our stay in Rome from there. Around Termini Station, before unification, there was a vast villa (country house) called Villa Montalto, which was built at the end of the 16th century.

However, after being completely urbanized by modern urban development, and as is typical for terminal stations in large cities, it has become an area that is not very impressive because various people come and go. From this Termini Station to Via Nazionale, there are many large hotels, especially those that accept Japanese tour groups. Therefore, I think the environment around here makes many Japanese travelers have a bad impression of Rome, and perhaps also increases the number of theft victims.

Anyway, it is inevitable that the excitement of arriving in Rome is completely different between travelers of the past who finally reached Rome after many days and us who travel by easy means. Furthermore, modern cities have sprawling urban areas, and it is not even clear when you have entered the city. The noble ritual of passing through the city gate has been lost forever.

Nevertheless, when you visit medieval cities in Italy, you can still experience the thrilling sensation of passing through this city gate. For example, San Gimignano and Assisi are like that. Truly, there is something indescribable about the somewhat bright feeling when you pass through a city gate and enter an unfamiliar city.

Even in small medieval cities, it is like this. I wonder what it must have been like to pass through the city gate of Rome, the city of longing, and enter the city for the first time.

In fact, before the eyes of travelers who passed through the Porta del Popolo, a wonderful spectacle, a view of the Piazza del Popolo that looked like a stage, spread out. Vasi's guidebook, which was reprinted from the end of the 18th century to the 19th century, proudly records this:

There is no other city that offers such a noble and magnificent entry as the Porta del Popolo provides. The view formed by the vast square, the large Egyptian obelisk in its center, the beautiful twin basilicas, and the perspective of three wide, long roads is wonderful, and just one glance at it is enough to get an accurate concept of the magnificence of Rome at the very first moment.

That this description by Vasi is not just advertising copy for a guidebook can be confirmed by the testimony of many travelers, such as the famous 18th-century writer Charles de Brosses, who wrote, 'No first view of this city gives a more perfect concept of the greatness of Rome.' And above all, if we actually stand in the Piazza del Popolo and see this wonderful view with our own eyes, wouldn't everyone be convinced?

Anyway, in order to understand what kind of city Rome was for travelers of the past, I think we first need to imagine the intense effect of the 'blow to the eyes' that this Piazza del Popolo gave them. Therefore, this simulated experience of entering Rome in the old days, or most simply, the experiment of getting off at Flaminio Station on Metro Line A and entering the city from the Porta del Popolo, is worth trying.

If the reader walks along the Via Flaminia from further away, as you proceed, you should be able to see the obelisk and the twin basilicas from the Porta del Popolo, and when you pass through the gate, the square will suddenly open up, and you will be able to see the magnificent perspective created by the twin basilicas with slightly unusual domes beyond the huge obelisk, and the three straight roads that sandwich them. It can be said that it is a view like a stage background. Like a stage at the moment the curtain rises after the opera overture ends, there is something like a premonition of a magnificent drama that is about to begin.

And in fact, this landscape of the Piazza del Popolo allows us to understand not only the 'magnificence' of Rome but also the very character of the city of Rome. To make you understand this, I must talk a little about the historical circumstances of how the above decorations were carried out.
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Rome, which was the 'City of the Emperor' in ancient times and later the 'City of the Pope,' was a city that fatefully possessed a fictional and 'theatrical' character. Travelers who finally arrived in Rome after a long journey and stood in Piazza del Popolo were convinced of this, along with the 'magnificence' of Rome. Therefore, if there is anyone who thinks the view of this Piazza del Popolo is artificial or insincere, they are simply not compatible with Rome. However, conversely, if there is anyone who feels a thrilling excitement at this scenographic landscape, they are the ones born with the 'talent' to be captivated by Rome.