"A romp through the worlds of fashion, film, and titillating journalism that made 1950s Rome the sexiest capital on the planet. In the 1950s, Rome rose from the ashes of World War II to become a movable feast for film, fashion, creative energy, tabloid media, and bold-faced libertinism that made 'Italian' a global synonym for taste, style, and flair. Old money, new stars, fast cars, wanton libidos, and brazen news photographers created a way of life...

"In Roman Year, André Aciman captures the period of his adolescence that began when he and his family first set foot in Rome, after being expelled from Egypt. Though Aciman’s family had been well-off in Alexandria, all vestiges of their status vanished when they fled, and the author, his younger brother, and his deaf mother moved into a rented apartment in Rome’s Via Clelia. Though dejected, Aciman’s mother and brother found their way into...