Rome Italy

The Roman grip on Britain is weakening. Emperor Nero has turned his face away from this far-flung outpost. The Druids are on the rise, spreading seeds of rebellion among the British tribes. Roman cruelty and exploitation has angered their British subjects. The warrior queen Boudicca will lead the tribes to war. Standing against the rising tide of Boudicca's rebellion is Roman Tribune, Gaius Valerius Verrens, Commander of the veteran legions at Colonia.

Polybius wrote his Histories "to find out by what means and by what political system the entire world was brought under the domination of Rome." Within the short space of about 50 years Rome went from being a provincial leader of an Italian confederacy to become the Mistress of the Mediterranean. Polybius was one of the first historians to attempt to present history as a sequence of causes and effects, based upon a careful examination of tradition and a keen scrutiny of the facts.

This is the story of the greatest empire the world has ever known. Simon Baker charts the rise and fall of the world's first superpower, focusing on six momentous turning points that shaped Roman history. Welcome to Rome as you've never seen it before—awesome and splendid, gritty and squalid. From the conquest of the Mediterranean beginning in the third century BC to the destruction of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian invaders some seven centuries later, we discover the most critical episodes in Roman history.

At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital.

The Aeneid represents one of the greatest cultural and artistic achievements of Western Civilization. Within the brooding and melancholy atmosphere of Virgil's pious masterpiece lies the mythic story of Aeneas and his flight from burning Troy, taking with him across the Mediterranean the survivors of the Greek onslaught. Aeneas, after many travails and adventures, including a love affair with Dido Queen of Carthage and a visit to the underworld to see his father, ends up in Italy.

The audioguide tells the story, describes architecture and reports interesting facts about the basilica of Santa Maria in Domnica, located in Rome, on the summit of Monte Celio. Particular attention is paid to the decoration of the central apse. They lively colors are striking, especially since many of the mosaics, of the apse, date back to the 9th century and represent work from the Byzantine school.

The audioguide tells the story, describes the architecture and reports interesting facts about the basilica of San Lorenzo, outside the walls, one of the oldest basilicas in Rome. According to the legend, Lorenzo was the Archdiocese of Sixtus II, the pope at the time of Emperor Valerian, who rose to the throne in 253 AD. San Lorenzo was executed in 258. The basilica is part of the itinerary of the seven churches made by pilgrims to Rome.

The audioguide tells the story, describes the architecture and reports interesting facts about the basilica. Saint John the Evangelist preached in this place. Tradition tells us that John, the apostle of Jesus, was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, but came out miraculously uninjured and safe. The real gem of this church are the medieval frescoes, discovered during the restoration works of the last century.

The audioguide tells the story, describes the architecture and reports interesting facts about the basilica of San Lorenzo, outside the walls, one of the oldest basilicas in Rome. According to the legend, Lorenzo was the Archdiocese of Sixtus II, the pope at the time of Emperor Valerian, who rose to the throne in 253 AD. San Lorenzo was executed in 258.The basilica is part of the itinerary of the seven churches made by pilgrims to Rome.

The audioguide tells the story, describes the architecture and reports interesting facts about the basilica. Saint John the Evangelist preached in this place. Tradition tells us that John, the apostle of Jesus, was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, but came out miraculously uninjured and safe. The real gem of this church are the medieval frescoes, discovered during the restoration works of the last century.

A concise, star-studded retelling of Italy's past, from Caesar and Augustus to da Vinci and Michelangelo, tracing the story of a country with prodigious global influence—from a foremost author of historic Italy.

The audioguide tells the story, describes architecture and reports interesting facts about the largest Roman church dedicated to the Mother of God and founded between 432 and 440. In front of the Sistine Chapel is the tomb of Bernini. In the Borghese Chapel, there are the funerary monuments of the popes Paolo V and Clement VIII. At the center of the chapel stands the icon of the "Salus Populi Romani" attributed to San Luca's hand brought from Byzantium.

The audioguide tells the story, describes architecture and reports interesting facts about the largest Roman church dedicated to the Mother of God and founded between 432 and 440. In front of the Sistine Chapel is the tomb of Bernini. In the Borghese Chapel, there are the funerary monuments of the popes Paolo V and Clement VIII. At the center of the chapel stands the icon of the "Salus Populi Romani" attributed to San Luca's hand brought from Byzantium.

When Sofia Bianchi’s father, Aldo, dies, it makes her stop and look at things afresh. Having been his carer for so many years, she knows it’s time for her to live her own life—and to fulfil some promises she made to Aldo in his final days. So there’s nothing for it but to escape to Italy’s Umbrian mountains where, tucked away in a sleepy Italian village, lie plenty of family secrets waiting to be discovered. There, Sofia also finds Amy, who is desperately trying to find her way in life after discovering her dad isn’t her biological father.

From nationally bestselling, award-winning author Liam Callanan, the story of an opportunity to start over at midlife, a chance to save a struggling convent in the Eternal City, and the dramatic re-emergence of an old flame . . . Claire, fifty-two, desperately desires a fresh start. After...

From the national bestselling author of The Serpent and the Pearl comes the continuing saga of the ruthless family that holds all of Rome in its grasp, and the three outsiders thrust into their twisted web of blood and deceit . . . As the cherished concubine of the Borgia Pope Alexander VI...

Book 1 begins in the dim prehistory of Latium and describes the society that emerged there in the centuries leading up to the establishment of the first Roman king. This penetrating look at emerging Latin culture takes us into the strange world of their religion; their family structure; and their legal system, trade, alliances, and relationships with neighboring tribes and kingdoms. It brilliantly sets the stage for what is to come in the following volumes.

In the year 493, the leader of a vast confederation of Gothic warriors, their wives, and children personally cut down Odoacer, the man famous for deposing the last Roman emperor in 476. That leader became Theoderic the Great (454-526). This engaging history of his life and reign immerses listeners in the world of the warrior-king who ushered in decades of peace and stability in Italy as king of Goths and Romans.

Byron and Hitler were equally entranced by Rome's most famous monument, the Colosseum. Mid-Victorians admired the hundreds of varieties of flowers in its crannies and occasionally shuddered at its reputation for contagion, danger, and sexual temptation. Today it is the highlight of a tour of Italy for more than three million visitors a year, a concert arena for the likes of Paul McCartney, and a national symbol of opposition to the death penalty. Its ancient history is chock full of romantic but erroneous myths.

It was the splendor and the scandal of the age. In 1506, the ferociously ambitious Renaissance Pope Julius II tore down the most sacred shrine in Europe, the millennium-old St. Peter's Basilica built by the Emperor Constantine over the apostle's grave, to build a better basilica.