A Time in Rome

By Elizabeth Bowen,

Book cover of A Time in Rome

Book description

Elizabeth Bowen's account of a time spent in Rome is no ordinary guidebook but an evocation of a city - its history, its architecture and, above all, its atmosphere. She describes the famous classical sites, conjuring from the ruins visions of former inhabitants and their often bloody activities and speculates…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked A Time in Rome as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book is a treasure-trove of wise and gorgeous sentences—like, “Knowledge of Rome must be physical, sweated into the system, worked up into the brain through the thinning shoe-leather. Substantiality comes through touch and smell, and taste, the tastes of different dusts.”

Like the Eternal City, A Time in Rome by the Irish-British novelist Elizabeth Bowen doesn’t fit into tidy categories.

Is it a guidebook to the city? Is it a memoir? Is it a history of Rome? Yes and no.

Though I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, I love it. It’s a perfect book for…

From Scott's list on finding the meaning of life in Rome.

Want books like A Time in Rome?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like A Time in Rome.

Browse books like A Time in Rome

Book cover of Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language
Book cover of How to Die: An Ancient Guide to the End of Life
Book cover of The Epistles of Horace

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Rome, ancient Rome, and the meaning of life?

Rome 339 books
Ancient Rome 304 books