title: The Smiles of Rome: A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers
author:  Susan Cahill 
description: Collecting the essays, stories and poems of great writers from both the ancient and modern worlds, this volume offers an intoxicating and often heartbreaking tribute to the elusive power of the eternal city. "Rome does not need to make culture," Federico Fellini states in a conversation reproduced here, "It is culture." Edith Wharton assuaged her loneliness in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, and Nathaniel Hawthorne conceded, "Rome certainly does draw into itself my heart." Turning an already stellar selection of writings into a practical guide for the literary-minded, editor Cahill then extracts from each piece the places mentioned and provides updated information (including addresses, phone numbers and nearby dining suggestions) for the traveler who wishes to retrace the steps of Goethe and St. Paul, among others. Through these pages, the city lives, breathes and seduces. How can one go wrong with Ovid's instructive and witty "The Art of Love" or John Updike's "Twin Beds in Rome," a bracing short story of a couple haunted by the city's ghosts as well as their own? "Rome is surely the most beautiful city in Italy, if not the world," wrote Pier Paolo Pasolini. "But it is also the most ugly, the most welcoming, the most dramatic, the richest, the most wretched." This dichotomy has bewitched people for centuries, whether they be icons of literature or not, and those who haven't visited Rome may find themselves planning their own trip after perusing this vibrant collection. <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: Praise for the hilariously fun
  ROMAN CRAZY
  “There are books that make you laugh out loud, make you teary, make you
  hot and bothered, make you smile. And then there are books that make you
  want to crawl inside them and live within their pages. That’s what Roman
  Crazy is.”
  —New York Times bestselling author of the Tangled series, Emma
  Chase
  “I went CRAZY over Roman Crazy—this is simply a perfect romance!”
  —New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Probst
  “Roman Crazy is a laugh out loud romantic comedy about second chances,
  friendship, and the beauty of Rome. You won’t simply read this novel, you’ll
  devour it as Alice Clayton and Nina Bocci transport you to Italy and guide
  you on an unforgettable adventure.”
  —Sylvain Reynard, New York Times, USA Today, and #1
  international bestselling author of Gabriel’s Inferno and the
  Florentine series
  “Nina Bocci and Alice Clayton wrote a grown-up romance that is heartfelt,
  sexy, and transportive. As a bonus, the city of Rome is as much of a characte