A Thousand Bells at Noon: A Roman Reveals the Secrets and Pleasures of His Native City

• Paperback - 01 April, 2003 - Harper Perennial
• Usually ships in 24 hours
• By: G Franco Romagnoli
• ISBN: 0060519207

Buy this book from Amazon.com

List Price: $12.95
Amazon.com Price: $9.97
You Save: $2.98

Other books you may find interesting

• Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide
• City of the Soul: A Walk in Rome (Crown Journeys)
• Rome in Detail: A Sophisticated Traveler's Guide
• A Traveller in Rome
• As the Romans Do: An American Family's Italian Odyssey
• A Traveller in Italy
• The Civilized Shopper's Guide to Rome
• The Smiles of Rome: A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers
• Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide
• Rick Steves' Rome 2006
• The City of Falling Angels
• Travelers' Tales Italy: True Stories
• Italian Days
• Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (Cities of the Imagination Series)
• Rome: A Cultural History

Reviews by readers

One of best insight of Rome.

Fascinating....and the review is coming from a 'Romano de Roma'.

Remembering Home

This book represents the musings of a native son of Rome, returning for an extended visit home after a lifetime living abroad. Romagnoli, now in his 70s, grew up in Rome, leaving it for America some 50 years earlier with his American wife. As this book begins, the widowed Romagnoli, newly re-married to another American, is returning to Rome to re-establish his ties.

During the tax ride from the airport, Romagnoli considers the concept of "native". He was born in Rome, but that doesn't qualify him as truly Roman. To be truly Roman, all ancestors to 7 generations back must have been born and lived in Rome. While his mother was a Roman, his father was a "pellegrino," an immigrant from the North. The taxi driver points out some of the more recent pellegrinos they pass on the way to Romagnoli's rented flat. This is a suitable introduction to the book-rather than focus on the sights or manners of the Romans, Romagnoli considers broad topics of special import to Italians. In each subsequent chapter, he takes up a different topic in turn, such as government, health care, the fountains, religion, and transportation. But he develops each of these topics from his experiences on this particular trip. By the time you finish reading this book, you will feel you have had a series of long conversations with a Roman about how the city works, and how Romans feel about it.

Pleasant, but doesn't reach any great heights.

It seems that anyone who has lived abroad, (especially if the abode was in Tuscany or the South of France), feels compelled to write about it. This book makes for a pleasant read, but is somewhat predictable in its adherence to that genre of travel/living abroad school of writing. I found the book had some useful and amusing facts, but a lot of the in-depth encounters with other Romans added nothing to my interest in that city. Although a British visitor, without the length of experience of the now-expatriate Romagnoli, H.V.Morton's "A Traveler in Rome" remains the incomparable choice for a deeper understanding of Rome.

Top of page