Product Description

There can be few more historic places in the world. Caesar was cremated there. Charles V and Mussolini rode by it in triumph. Napoleon celebrated his Festival of Liberty there. David WatkinÂ’s Forum is the site as it was famous for centuries, celebrated in the romantic views of the Grand Tour, not the archaeologistsÂ’ building site it has become. He helps us rediscover the ForumÂ’s rich history during and since antiquity, and that of the remarkable buildings which later centuries have added to this evocative place.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27350 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
`David Watkin's short, polemical, brilliant history...in clear, authoritative but enjoyable and lively language that makes this an invaluable guide' --Timothy Brittain-Catlin, The Tablet

`[H]e writes in an easily accessible, informative and lucid style... this is an excellent guide for the visitor, armchair or otherwise.'
--Peter Shaw, Italy Magazine

`With verve, authority and no little humour, Watkin tells the detailed and complex story... an almost impossible task, superbly done.'
--Peter Jones, BBC History

About the Author
David Watkin is Professor of Architectural History at the University of Cambridge. He has written major studies of architects like Soane and Thomas Hope and the influential polemic Architecture and Morality.

Customer Reviews

Essential Reading for the "Grand Tourist"
As an annual visitor to Rome for over thirty years I am always on the lookout for a guide which will reveal more than the superficial sites of interest that, wonderful though they are, I have seen many, many times before. Prof. Watkin's book does not disappoint. In fact, I am sorry that I have not come across it before. It is a gem. Even allowing for Prof. Wakin's obvious distain for archaeologists from the 19th and 20th Century who have dug their way through the forum to reveal sometimes unimportant artefacts at the loss of far more significant but later buildings, which he repeats at least once in every chapter, this small volume should be part of every visitors' library during a visit to the forum. There is so much information here. Written in a detailed but approachable style and equally suited to a read in an armchair or during an amble through the site itself. I know that my next visit to Rome will be accompanied by this book and I think that I shall allow at least a full day for exploration of the sites discussed in this book.