If you are as nutty about Rome as I am, you probably already have a library of books and publications already.  This list by no means is a complete list, but I have had several requests to list those books that I think are well worth the effort of reading and/or procuring for one's own library.  I have all of them in my personal library (and it keeps growing).  They are listed below in no particular order, as I think all of them are excellent!

Travel Guides

Eyewitness Travel Guides:  Rome (now called Dorling Kindersley Guides).  I swear by this travel guide.  It is very complete.

As the Romans Do, by Alan Epstein
Excellent book written by a former Californian who fell in love with Rome and moved his family there to live.

When in Rome:  A Journal of Life in Vatican City by Robert J. Hutchinson
A delightful travelogue through the Vatican written by a Roman Catholic journalist.

A Catholic's Guide to Rome:  Discovering the Soul of the Eternal City by Frank J. Korn
Excellent synopsis of many of Rome's churches.

City Secrets:  Rome by Robert Kahn
A where-to-find-what book.

In the Footsteps of Popes:  A Spirited Guide to the Treasures of the Vatican
by Enrico Bruschini

Little-known Museums In and Around Rome by Rachel Kaplan

Art and Architecture:  Rome and the Vatican City by Brigitte Hintzen-Bohlen

Palazzi and Villas of Rome by Caroline Vincenti Montanaro and Andrea Fasolo

John Paul II:  A Personal Portrait of the Pope and the Man by Ray Flynn
(Excellent book written by the former Mayor of Boston/former U.S. Ambassador to Vatican City)

Caesar and Christ:  A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from their beginnings to A.D. 325 by Will Durant
Excellent for those who want to know more about Ancient Rome and the advent of Christianity; quite intense reading.

Inside the Vatican by Bart McDowell (photographs by James L. Stanfield of the National Geographic Society)

Pilgrimage:  A Chronicle of Christianity Through the Churches of Rome by June Hager (photographs by Grzegorz Galazka)

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