Post war Italy was ready for a party. With Mussolini and Hitler defeated, glamour returned to Europe. The 1950s and 1960s would find Rome prospering after years of hunger, terror and fear. The personality of these post war times is on display in the movies of the era:, Three Coins in the Fountain, The Barefoot Contessa, La Dolce Vita, Cleopatra, and Roman Holiday, to name just a few.
Two of the books major players, refugees from the war turn out to be the glamorous Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren. But many stars flock to Italy, particularly Rome. There was Ava Gardner, Gina Lollobrigida, Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot to name a few..
Each chapter looks closely at one of the actresses, Richard Burton, the lone man to make an appearance. If you are a fan of these actors or want a hint of what was Rome in a heady decade, this book is for you..

I just left Rome and was reading this book while there. And I was staying at a hotel on the Via Veneto! Young’s book brings the sixties film making, cult of celebrity, decadent world back to life. Utterly fascinating vignettes of Loren, Lollabridgida, and Magnianni. This time period really did see the birth of the celebrity and the loss of privacy that accompanies fame. The stories in the book are told in a well written conversational style that makes the book a pleasure to read. A little more careful editing would help but does not detract from the books pleasures overall.

A very fun book documenting the la dolce vida life in Rome from post war to the mid-sixties.
The book is told in a series of vignettes focusing on the great female movie stars who made the scene in Rome--Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, Anna Maganini, Anita Ekberg and Audrey Hepburn. While not very deep, the book is quite enjoyable and makes one wish they were mingling with the glitterati in cafes on the Via Venetian.

Much has been written about the vibrant cultural and social scene that exploded in Rome as the city emerged from the trauma of World War II. It was the place to be in the 1950s and 1960s as can be seen by the scandals, drama, and artistic output that continue to be a source of fascination decades later.

In a new book, Caroline Young examines this time via the lives of several prominent actresses who worked, made their home, and battled with paparazzi during this time. They are a varied lot: Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor among them, but there are several commonalities among their lives as well. You get a taste of what they experienced during turbulent times in this addictive read.

Young has divide her book by actress, devoting chapters to them within which she also explores other personalities and events in the city. Taking a essentially chronological path, she’ll come back to these women, giving them a chapter for the early phases of their Rome experience and then coming back to them in another chapter which examines later years of their time in the capitol, as if she is checking in to see how things are progressing.

It can become a bit chaotic jumping between stories, which is jarring on one hand and an appropriate reflection of the times on the other. The profiles are an even balance of history and sensation, delving into the lives of each woman, but also giving plenty of space to the scandals that drew the press to them or were perhaps inspired by aggressive paparazzi in the first place. It can get juicy, but the actresses are also treated with respect.

It's an entertaining book, with a mix of well-known stories and less familiar tidbits. It’s perfect as a frothy beach read, but has substance as well. For a more deeply researched, comprehensive study of Rome in this vibrant time, I’d recommend Shawn Levy’s Dolce Vita Confidential, but as a tribute that provides a view of mid-century Rome from the perspective of these actresses, Roman Holiday is a satisfying history.

I have always loved Paris in the 20s. There is something beguiling and classically romantic about this era and I thought it was unique. Reading Young's Roman Holiday I realize that glamour extends beyond Paris, and that Rome has a history I had no idea existed.
The Golden Age of Hollywood is not just in California - in fact I do not think it would be the same without Rome.

This light read is a fantastic overview of the part Rome played in the lives of many stars, and how they themselves helped shape the city.

My next trip is sure to include Rome!

I am a huge fan of reading anything to do with celebrities, so this intrigued me. I am so glad that I read it because I felt like I was in Rome watching the stars of the day! It was informative and fun to read. I definitely recommend this one!

What a read that is packed with Hollywood glam and excitement about various actors and the background of several well known movies like "Roman Holiday." Great read if you're interested in the entertainment industry!

“Fame ain't what it's cracked up to be. . . .It's a pain in the ass if you ask me.”
--Ava Gardner.

Caroline Young's Roman Holiday: The Secret Life of Hollywood in Rome is part gossip, part travelogue, part serious history. It starts with the true story of the struggle to survive following the liberation of Rome, after the Nazis withdrew.

The New Rome started with a movie. Rome, Open City, was directed by Roberto Rossellini. Rossellini used German POWs to play themselves as the occupiers they had been a week before. It was the first film of the neorealist cinema. Anna Magnani became the first worldwide star of postwar Italian film. She handled the fame better than many actors, such as Ingrid Bergman, who left her husband and a Hollywood career for Rossellini.

American studios made movies in Italy in order to have access to money that post-war laws kept them from taking out of the country, and to make use of the transformed Cinecitta movie studios in Rome. American stars like Deborah Kerr were imported to make epics such as Quo Vadis.

After the Bergman and Rossellini scandal, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton grabbed the world's attention, thanks to the new profession of paparazzi—photographers waiting to catch stars misbehaving. The spouses of Taylor and Burton, along with the rest of the world, found out the latest about the state of their marriages from the tabloid Italian press. Finally Eddie Fisher had had enough and left Elizabeth Taylor. Richard Burton was slower to react.

Sophia Loren was one of the next Roman goddesses. She was discovered by filmmaker Carlo Ponti, who like many of the men in this book thought they alone were responsible for their “creations.” (Roger Vadim was an heir to these maestros, directing his actress and lover Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman.)

This book is a tale of the late night haunts of the creatures of Rome, its journalists and photographers, filmmakers and movie stars. It's not long until the reader is familiar with the Spanish Steps, the Via Condotti, the Villa Borghese, and the Trevi Fountain.

Most of the book deals with gossip about the celebrities of the postwar years, but Caroline Young brings it up to the 1970s, the “Years of Lead” and terrorism.

Even though the gossip is old, it's still riveting, and my movie watchlist has increased by half a dozen.

(Thanks to The History Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy.)