Rome’s Urban Memory Keeper

Author and historian Anthony Majanlahti thinks about the Roman Empire every day, multiple times a day -- and it shows

Anthony Majanlahti lives exactly where you’d imagine he would.

He’s best known for The Families Who Made Rome, a vivid blend of social history, travel writing, biography, and commentary. Published in 2005, the book remains a staple on the shelves of serious Rome devotees.

But his current project is even more ambitious. Tentatively titled The Eternal City, it’s a 700-page urban history that, as Majanlahti puts it, “will tell the story of Rome from its earliest roots right up until yesterday.” Commissioned by Oxford University Press, the tome has been in some stage of development for over a decade. If all goes as planned, it’ll be on bookshelves next year.

The she-wolf suckling mythical Rome founders Romulo and Remus (EJL photo)

It’s somehow no surprise that the Canadian-born Majanlahti, 57, lives in a building with ancient Roman foundations, medieval substructures, and a Renaissance façade. Inside? Think soaring ceilings, classical statues, stacks of books, and walls lined with oil portraits, etchings, and historical maps.

The apartment lies halfway down Rome’s famed Via Giulia -- the elegant thoroughfare named for Pope Julius II, who ordered it built more than 500 years ago. The first new road built in Rome since antiquity, Via Giulia marked a turning point in the city’s Renaissance renewal.

Majanlahti spoke to The Italian Dispatch’s Eric J Lyman in the apartment’s grand living room. The conversation ranged from his distaste for Caesar Augustus, the problem with calling Rome ‘The Eternal City,’ the historical figures Majanlahti would invite to dinner, and what it really means to be a Roman.

This post marks The Italian Dispatch‘s first Q&A. It’s been edited for length and clarity.