From Romulus and Remus to the films of Fellini, Rome has always exerted a hold on the world´s imagination. Now Ferdinand Addis brings the city of Rome to life by concentrating on vivid episodes from its long and unimaginably rich history. Each beautifully composed chapter is an evocative, self-contained narrative, whether it is the murder of Caesar; the near-destruction of the city by the Gauls in 387 BC; the construction of the Colosseum and the fate of the gladiators; Bernini´s creation of the Baroque masterpiece that is St Peter´s Basilica; the brutal crushing of republican dreams in 1849; the sinister degeneration of Mussolini´s first state, or the magical, corrupt Rome of Fellini´s La Dolce Vita. This is an epic, kaleidoscopic history of a city indelibly associated with republicanism and dictatorship, Christian orthodoxy and its rivals, high art and low life in all its forms.