The Families Who Made Rome

by Anthony Majanlahti

Publication: May 2005
All rights: Chatto and Windus
400 pp.


How often does a visitor to Rome drift towards some landmark – the palazzo Barberini, say, or piazza Colonna – and wonder who created it? Why? What was their story? This fascinating book provides the answer. At once a history and a guide, it divides Rome into the districts dominated by the noble clans who in turn became fabulously rich when one of their members was made Pope: The Cenci, Colonna, della Rovere, Farnese, Borghese, Barberini and others. In each case Anthony Majanlahti tells the family story – powerful, bloody and vivid – with all the scandals and intrigues, the building of palazzi and piazza and churches, as well as relationships with artists like Bernini and Michaelangelo. An itinerary with maps and engravings then allows readers to walk round the area, with a detailed guide to buildings, streets, gardens and special features.

The Roman aristocracy placed their stamp on the city. Nobles, whether blowing up buildings with fireworks to make piazzas, or designing fountains to denote their bountiful wealth, created the dazzling splendour we see today. No other guide describes the development of Rome in this way: this book is completely new, including colourful material from old diaries and journals. As we stroll through Rome’s history – either literally or in the imagination – we discover it afresh. Famous sites like the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and even St Peter’s itself take on new significance as we watch the city rise from cramped medieval streets to become a glorious Renaissance and baroque panorama of piazzas and palaces, fountains and towers and domes. And always, in the background stand the ruins of the classical Imperial city, at once a model and a warning. Little ‘intermezzi’ fill in the background to each period, and the whole story runs on into the Rome of today, where remnants of these families still live – in gilded splendour, or squalor.

About the author:

Anthony Majanlahti is 35, an urban historian who graduated from the University of Toronto, and was for several years a researcher at the British School at Rome. This is his first book.

Anthony Majanlahti by Lloyd Erlick,
© 1996 Lloyd Erlick