Roma

This volume, which brings together the portraits of the Roman emperors, is simultaneously a circumnavigation that embraces several centuries of Rome's history, and an imposing series of faces, the album of an entire ruling class, from Augustus to Constantine. What prevail are wrinkles, and a profusion of curls. On some faces we can make out the strain of power; on others, dreams and reveries, glories and atrocities. There are teenagers with sensual lips and peach fuzz, candid and malicious like those that Pier Paolo Pasolini used to photograph in the suburbs; and thin aging men, who recall certain modest craftsmen, still working until a few years ago in the dark warehouses of Trastevere and Testaccio. Complementing this splendid collection is an anthology of writings, selected with the expertise and taste of Caterina Napoleone and Giovanni Salmeri, a delight for curious individuals who enjoy observing faces and steeping themselves in the events, customs and chronicles - gossipy at times - when Rome was the capital of the world.