MODERN ROME: 4 GREAT WALKS FOR THE CURIOUS TRAVELER, an alternative guidebook, is the latest in the Curious Traveler Series by acclaimed travel writers Dianne Bennett and William Graebner. Designed for the tens of thousands of visitors who have seen Rome’s major attractions or seek an off-the-beaten path experience, it features over 60 color photos, 4 detailed maps, and entertaining and informative commentary. Following the success of ROME THE SECOND TIME: 15 ITINERARIES THAT DON’T GO TO THE COLISEUM, Bennett and Graebner offer 4 new Rome walks, all outside the city’s tourist core, all easily accessible by Metro or tram, and all in neighborhoods where Romans live and work. GARBATELLA: GARDEN CITY SUBURB is a guided tour through one of the city’s most engaging and mysterious planned communities, a 1920s creation featuring curving streets, enchanting stairways, interior courtyards, and some of the most unusual public housing ever built. EUR: MID-CENTURY SPECTACLE features a dramatic locale, now a center of Rome’s business community, but planned and constructed in monumental style to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1922 Fascist March on Rome. On the opposite side of the city, a walk through Flaminio introduces Rome’s sensational 21st-century, starchitect-designed cultural centers, and, across the Tiber, the suggestive site of the 1960 Olympic Games, the Foro Italico, a virtual Mussolini theme park built by the Duce in the 1930s. A fourth, stairways walk begins in Trastevere’s back yard, winding up, down, and around Rome’s 8th hill, the Gianicolo, traversing a 17th-century villa, a compelling 1941 monument to the Italian unification movement, and one of the smallest and most charming temples in all of Italy. Bennett and Graebner provide more tantalizing tours, information, and Book Updates on their blog at www.romethesecondtime.com. Pack your bags. Bring your curiosity.
