Notes From a Roman Terrace

A delightful travel memoir of contemporary life in Rome, by the author of the well-loved Notes from an Italian Garden.

Joan Marble has lived in a sixteenth-century Roman palazzo apartment with husband Robert, a sculptor, for over forty years. A lifetime of mingling with the citizens of Rome and pottering about on her beloved terrace above the city rooftops has resulted in this warm and witty book.

Highly personal and brimming with anecdote, history and insight, Joan’s experience of Rome and Romans is infected by her contagious fascination for plants, a hobby she shares every week with the Women’s Gardening Club of Rome. She includes an insider’s view of Italian fellow gardening-obsessives, and an authoritative view of famous Italian Gardens. Woven into her gardening tales are her informed views on everyday life in the city; of partying, politics and popes; of bicycle thieves and cat-catchers, and how to deal with those friends-of-friends who arrive so regularly in Rome with nowhere to stay. Tales abound of the expat community, and the illustrious writers and aristocrats with whom the author, as a journalist, keeps company. At the same time, Joan infuses her memoir with an affection for her plants, scattering tips and personal stories of how to keep them alive.

Imbued with a special feel for history and human observation, this idiosyncratic study of Joan’s beloved home will delight armchair travelers and gardeners everywhere.

Joan Marble is a member of the Rome Garden Club and the Foreign Journalists’ Association in Rome.


From the Hardcover edition.