My heart is always lifted when a book begins with a map; it is like getting on a plane, we are about to go on an adventure. The first image in this generously illustrated work is a map of Italy 400 years ago; it shows a loose collection of independent nation states which, at that time, stood in the middle of the world.
Having, in his book Brunelleschi’s Dome, successfully conjured up Florence in the 15th century, Ross King now moves to 16th-century Rome and...
Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it
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