Eternal City

Extract

It almost seems a sort of impertinence to add yet another layer to the many records (recently estimated as numbering some 230,000 books) of Roman experiences and impressions. Can there possibly be any vision of the Eternal City, any reaction to its manifold variety and continuity, which has not already been set down, romantically or painstakingly according to the writer's ability? Yet it may be that each new generation, even each new visitor, enjoys a private and different view of Rome, and experiences something unfelt by the multitudes of previous explorers. To attempt to translate that vision, to reduce it to words for others to share, is a sure recipe for another attack of nostalgia; and who would wish to escape that?