Imperial City: Rome under Napoleon (review)

All cities are a type of ‘history book’, particularly those which, like Rome and Paris, were repeatedly embellished or ‘improved’ by successive regimes to glorify the existing ruler, to legitimize the political order, and to reduce the possibilities for social unrest. The pleasure of reading Susan Vandiver Nicassio’s lively book is that it combines a detailed evocation of everyday life in Rome with a powerful sense of place. At the outset Nicassio provides the reader with a useful sense of the city’s topography, beginning, wisely, at the outskirts with its villas and gardens before moving towards Rome’s teeming, jostling heart. Then — to name but a few scenes from the daily lives of Romans — descriptions of the vibrant religious processions, of the almsgiving upon which the city’s poor were dependent, and of fights between the swaggering bulli from rival districts are set against the backdrop of the masonry and mortar of the city itself. The battles between the rival bulli, for example, were often held at the Forum, not only because it was neutral territory, but because it evoked the glories of ancient Rome. These vivid descriptions form the basis of the book’s central chapters, on the people, their joys and sorrows, their working lives, and the progress of their year, which was punctuated by carnivals, religious celebrations, and often raucous festivities. Based on detailed research in the primary sources, including archival material, the author’s own descriptions are liberally supported by quotations from contemporaries. At the same time, this is also a book about Rome during the Napoleonic era, and, although the main discussions of the politics of the French occupation (including the thorny problem of religion) and the eventual restoration of papal rule, are confined to the first and last three chapters, effectively bracketing the book at either end, the impact of the first French invasion — the epoch referred to here, perhaps rather harshly, as the ‘Ridiculous Republic’ — and of the more settled Napoleonic epoch are also evident in the central, descriptive bulk of the book. There are references to civil marriage, the introduction of street lighting, the numbering of houses and archaeological works, for example, but it is perhaps an indictment of the Napoleonic impact that one of the most substantial sections devoted to Roman ‘sorrows’ is on conscription and the drastic measures young Roman men took to avoid it. The politics of revolution, occupation, and annexation, and their day-to-day effects on the people, were often tragic, sometimes comical, and they run throughout the book. Nicassio writes with a keen eye for human detail and with a witty turn of phrase. The book will be enjoyed by scholars interested in the European expansion of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, but it will be especially relished by anyone who appreciates Rome, its people, and their history.