By
Susan Spano
Los Angeles
Times Staff Writer
May 30, 2008
If you're planning to visit Rome before you die, it pays to prepare for
the experience. Here are 10 books and movies to help you understand what you
see in the Roman Forum, at the Vatican
and on the Piazza Navona.
1.
"The Agony and the Ecstasy" (1961, by Irving Stone, and turned into a
1965 film starring Charlton Heston) is about the epic trials
and tribulations of Michelangelo dealing with his patron Pope Julius II and
painting the Sistine Chapel. It's by
the same biographical fiction writer who gave us "Lust for Life"
about Vincent Van Gogh.
2.
"The Families Who Made Rome" (2005, by Anthony Majanlahti) is one of the latest and most inventive historical
guides to the Eternal
City. It looks chiefly at
five historic districts developed and decorated by Rome's
rich first families: Colonna, Della Rovere, Farnese,
Borghese and Barberini.
3.
"Gladiator"(2000, directed by Ridley Scott)
sets the
scene for the Colosseum, though the arena in the
Oscar-winning film was computer-generated. "Spartacus," 1960,
directed by Stanley Kubrick, is
another gladiator flick, telling the story of a slave revolt that took place
around 73 BC. It won only four Oscars
to "Gladiator's" five but
has Charles Laughton and Laurence
Olivier, not to mention Kirk
Douglas as the rebel leader.
4.
"I, Claudius" (1934, by Robert Graves) is the fictional autobiography of a Roman
emperor who lived through some of the city's
most turbulent times. Graves followed up on
the book's success with
"Claudius the God," 1935. In 1976, both books were made into a
compelling BBC miniseries, starring Derek Jacobi
as Claudius and Sibn Phillips as his bone-chilling
grandmother, Livia.
5.
"La Dolce Vita" (1960, directed by Federico
Fellini) is simply a must-see for Rome-bound visitors. It goes way
beyond Anita Ekberg and Marcello
Mastroianni taking a bath in the Trevi Fountain. Somehow, the movie gets to the heart of
gorgeous, sexy, operatic, always over-ripe Rome.
6.
"Memoirs of Hadrian" (1951, by Marguerite
Yourcenar) takes the form of a long
letter from Emperor Hadrian to his adoptive son and successor, Marcus
Aurelius. Painstakingly researched and brilliantly written, it
convincingly captures the voice and deepest thoughts of one of Rome's
greatest rulers.
7.
"Quo Vadis?"(1896, by Henryk Sienkiewicz) is an enduring historical novel set during the
persecutions of the early Christians by the Emperor Nero. For it and other
works, the author won the 1905 Nobel Prize for literature. Director Mervyn LeRoy brought the book to
the big screen with all the Hollywood
trappings in 1951. But reading "Quo Vadis?"
-- preferably on a bench near the statue of
Sienkiewicz in the Villa Borghese -- is still the best way to experience it.
8.
"Roman Holiday" (1953, directed by William
Wyler) is pure cinematic gelato about a sheltered European princess
who falls in love with an American journalist when she escapes from her
handlers during a state visit to Rome.
In an unforgettable sequence, the star-crossed lovers, played by Audrey
Hepburn and Gregory Peck,
ride a scooter past all the great sights of Rome.
9.
"Rome, Open City" (1945, directed by Roberto
Rossellini) is one of the first and finest works of Italian
neo-realism, filmed documentary style on the streets of the Eternal City just
after World War II. It stars a raw, war-weary Rome and the incomparable Italian actress Anna
Magnani.
10.
"That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana"(1957, written by Carlo
Emilio Gadda, translated from Italian by William
Weaver)
is one of the most acclaimed works of modern Italian fiction, though it
remained largely unknown to non-Italian-speakers until the publication of
Weaver's masterful English
translation last year. Set in fascist-era Rome,
it is an existential detective novel with characters right out of Plautus. Gadda left it unfinished, but who cares?