The city where great history, great theater , and great beauty are everywhere, tangible. Where baroque splendor unfolds amidst ancient grandeur , where necks crane to admire Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco, where Fellini filmed La Dolce Vita , and where Mussolini erected a megalomaniac monument to himself and fascist ideology in the EUR district.

This heavyweight photographic portrait of Rome brings together hundreds of images from 1840 to the present day , showcasing the history, art , and beauty of this incomparable capital of culture. Featuring over 500 photographs in sepia, black and white, and color, the volume presents works by photographers such as Giacomo Caneva, Pompeo Molins, Giuseppe Primoli, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Carlo Bavagnoli, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Pasquale De Antonis, and Peter Lindbergh., Slim Aarons and William Klein , whose photographs illuminate the Eternal City from a variety of perspectives: as the center of the Roman Empire , as the birthplace of the Renaissance, as a travel destination through the centuries, as a colorful patchwork of Roman districts, as the city of the Pope and the center of power of the Catholic Church, as Italy's political stage and as the perfect backdrop for film and fashion photography.

Drawing on the wealth of traditional image archives, some of the historical photographs printed here provide a unique glimpse into the era of the Grand Tour , whose favorite destinations and motifs included the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Spanish Steps (at that time still almost deserted ). Photographs from later times document the diversity of Rome, from the luxury quarters of the wealthy and the places of sophisticated pastimes to the street stalls and clotheslines in the working-class districts of Trastevere and Testaccio. Documentary material conveys an impression of the relentlessness with which Mussolini and Fascism imposed their ideology of strength, body cult and nation on the Italian capital. The emergence of color photography shows how the image of the city changed from the neorealism of the post-war period to the prosperity of the economic miracle years: elegant fashion, celebrities from all over the world, the cafés of the Via Veneto , whose fascination Federico Fellini immortalized. Greats from music and film, literature and fashion come together: Louis Armstrong, Elizabeth Taylor , Audrey Hepburn, Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Anna Magnani, Valentino.