MODERN ROME: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler, now in paper edition

Dianne Bennett and William Graebner are pleased to announce that Modern Rome: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler (Curious Traveler Press, 2014), is now available in paperback ($5.99, 92 pages, 63 color photos, maps) as well as in eBook format ($1.99, same color photos and maps, over 100 hyperlinks, in all e-formats).  Both versions are available at amazon.com and other retail outlets, including independent bookstores.  Both books are in Kindle's "Matchbook" program, qualifying for heavily discounted Kindle versions; see details below.

Following Rome the Second Time's successful format, Modern Rome offers four 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.  Together, Rome the Second Time and Modern

Rome constitute, we believe, the most important alternative guide to the modern city ever published.

Garbatella: Garden City Suburb is a guided tour through one of the world's most engaging and mysterious planned communities, a 1920s creation featuring curving streets, enchanting stairways, interior courtyards, some of the most unusual public housing ever built--and a café where Pier Paolo Pasolini enjoyed the local scene.

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.  Highlights include the striking Square Coliseum, Massimiliano Fuksas' Cloud (incredible even under construction), a mosaic by Fortunato Depero and a mural by Gino Severini, and Adalberto Libera's remarkable Palazzo dei Congressi.  Near the end of this walk, you can have lunch in Caffè Palombini, a 1940-vintage gem with artwork from the period.

From Mussolini to MAXXI: The Changing World of Flaminio. On the opposite end of the city, a walk through Flaminio introduces Rome's sensational 21st-century, starchitect designed (Renzo Piano and Zaha Hadid) cultural centers, and across the Tevere, the suggestive site of the 1960 Olympic Games, the Foro Italico, a virtual Mussolini theme park built by the Duce in the 1930s. And you can enjoy the splendor of the Foro while relaxing in one of our favorite outdoor bars.

The Stairs of Trastevere. A fourth walk begins just beyond the Trastevere so well known to tourists, winding up, down, and around Rome's 8th hill, the Gianicolo, traversing a multi-layered 17th-century villa, a compelling and seldom visited Fascist-era monument to the Italian unification movement (don't miss the incredible underground portion), and one of the smallest and most charming temples in all of Italy.  Lots to see, calories to burn!

Pack your bags.  Or enjoy the walks in a comfortable armchair.  In any case, bring your curiosity!

Kindle Matchbook program: Under Kindle's Matchbook program, the Kindle version of Rome the Second Time  is available for $1.99 if you buy the paperback from amazon.com.  The Kindle version of Modern Rome  is only 99 cents if you buy the paperback from amazon.

Dianne Bennett is a tax attorney and former managing partner of Buffalo's largest law firm. William Graebner is a widely published author of books on American history, including Patty's Got a Gun: Patricia Hearst in 1970s America (University of Chicago Press).  They live in Buffalo, Los Angeles, and Rome, where they get around on a Bologna-made Malaguti 250, a large scooter.

Dianne and Bill