Book Description

Not far south of Rome are the Castelli Romani, seventeen small hill-towns of beautiful, undiscovered charm in Lazio, hill-towns which have everything Rome does, but on a smaller, more humane scale. Love Among the Castelli Romani: A Midlife Crisis for Two recounts the authors’ two-year adventure in the area. Revealing the nature, mythology, history, culture, food, and people of four of the hill-towns—Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Frascati, and Nemi—they introduce the reader to the towns and the distinctly Italian life there, during the escapades of their midlife rediscovery of their love and the joy of the simple life. Reading Rome through the Castelli Romani, and the Castelli Romani through Rome, the book is part travel memoir, part anthology of Latin and English literature, part biography of a marriage, part lyric meditation on midlife, all while our authors learn Italian, explore two crater lakes, eat and drink local food and wine, make friends, survive Covid, and unlock the unknown pleasures of an Italy just outside the known pleasures of Rome itself. The first English language treatment of the area in over one hundred years, Love Among the Castelli Romani is a Grand Tour of an area Roman emperors, medieval churchmen, renaissance aristocrats, and modern fortunates have all called home as they have escaped the heat and busyness of Rome in search of a cooler, greener, quieter side of Italian life. The book is for the real or armchair traveler ready for a new experience of Italy.