What do you think?
Rate this book
City of Echoes: A New History of Rome, Its Popes, and Its People
From a bold new historian comes a vibrant history of Rome as seen through its most influential persona throughout the centuries: the pope.
Rome is a city of echoes, where the voice of the people has chimed and clashed with the words of princes, emperors, and insurgents across the centuries. In this authoritative new history, Jessica Wärnberg tells the story of Rome’s longest standing figurehead and interlocutor—the pope—revealing how his presence over the centuries has transformed the fate of the city of Rome.
Emerging as the anonymous leader of a marginal cult in the humblest quarters of the city, the pope began as the pastor of a maligned and largely foreign flock. Less than 300 years later, he sat enthroned in a lofty, heavily gilt basilica, a religious leader endorsed (and financed) by the emperor himself. Eventually, the Roman pontiff would supplant even the emperors as de facto ruler of Rome and pre-eminent leader of the Christian world. By the nineteenth century, it would take an army to wrest the city from the pontiff’s grip.
As the first-ever account of how the popes’ presence has shaped the history of Rome, City of Echoes not only illuminates the lives of the remarkable (and unremarkable) men who have sat on the throne of Saint Peter, but also reveals the bold and curious actions of the men, women, and children who have shaped the city with them, from antiquity to today. In doing so, the book tells the history of Rome as it has never been told before.
During the course of this fascinating story, City of Echoes also answers a compelling question: how did a man—and institution—whose authority rested on the blood and bones of martyrs defeat emperors, revolutionaries, and fascists to give Rome its most enduring identity?
Rome is a city of echoes, where the voice of the people has chimed and clashed with the words of princes, emperors, and insurgents across the centuries. In this authoritative new history, Jessica Wärnberg tells the story of Rome’s longest standing figurehead and interlocutor—the pope—revealing how his presence over the centuries has transformed the fate of the city of Rome.
Emerging as the anonymous leader of a marginal cult in the humblest quarters of the city, the pope began as the pastor of a maligned and largely foreign flock. Less than 300 years later, he sat enthroned in a lofty, heavily gilt basilica, a religious leader endorsed (and financed) by the emperor himself. Eventually, the Roman pontiff would supplant even the emperors as de facto ruler of Rome and pre-eminent leader of the Christian world. By the nineteenth century, it would take an army to wrest the city from the pontiff’s grip.
As the first-ever account of how the popes’ presence has shaped the history of Rome, City of Echoes not only illuminates the lives of the remarkable (and unremarkable) men who have sat on the throne of Saint Peter, but also reveals the bold and curious actions of the men, women, and children who have shaped the city with them, from antiquity to today. In doing so, the book tells the history of Rome as it has never been told before.
During the course of this fascinating story, City of Echoes also answers a compelling question: how did a man—and institution—whose authority rested on the blood and bones of martyrs defeat emperors, revolutionaries, and fascists to give Rome its most enduring identity?
448 pages, Hardcover
Published September 5, 2023
29 people are currently reading
380 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 29, 2024
I found this book while checking out e-books dealing with Rome after the Roman Empire. That's a search in which isn't necessarily the easiest to find good materials, so I was happy to find this. City of Echoes especially focuses on papal Rome, which was exactly what I was looking for. My recent trip to Italy (March 2023) highlighted the gaps in my knowledge of papal Rome and this book really helped to bridge those gaps.
The focus of City of Echoes is, of course, the evolution of Rome as a city under papal rule. It partly looks at monuments, partly at papal history and weaves both into the life of the city over fifteen hundred years of history. The impression is the layering of influences which you can see in the city as well. The ancient layer, of course, but also a the Christianization of the city, the mediaeval dying back, the Renaissance rebuilding and the centuries of disunity leading to unification in the 19th century. Warnburg's account is compelling and she manages to keep the human element front and centre.
This is truly well worth picking up, if you're interested in Rome the city. Warnburg is an excellent writer and she kept my interest through out.
The focus of City of Echoes is, of course, the evolution of Rome as a city under papal rule. It partly looks at monuments, partly at papal history and weaves both into the life of the city over fifteen hundred years of history. The impression is the layering of influences which you can see in the city as well. The ancient layer, of course, but also a the Christianization of the city, the mediaeval dying back, the Renaissance rebuilding and the centuries of disunity leading to unification in the 19th century. Warnburg's account is compelling and she manages to keep the human element front and centre.
This is truly well worth picking up, if you're interested in Rome the city. Warnburg is an excellent writer and she kept my interest through out.
December 1, 2025
Overall an interesting read however it was a bit all over the place. The author would start a chapter on one subject, jump to another decades prior and then jump back to the original subject. Also there were several sentences that made no sense at all and seemed to have been over looked in editing. Also over look in editing....she references the "Kingdom of Belgium" in 1246 but the Kingdom of Belgium wasn't a thing until 1830...
March 7, 2025
Interesting overview but a tad light on the popes flaws through the centuries. Reads a bit like a Catholic manifesto
November 24, 2023
This was the first overtly historical book that I actually sat down and read the entirety of, and after finishing, I’m even more convinced that the history of Rome is one of the richest that this world offers.
“City of Echoes” takes you from the ancient era soon after the death of Christ and the apostles Peter and Paul to the address given by Pope Francis I in 2020 on the Coronavirus in the Post-post-modern era. From cover to cover, Wärnberg dedicates the text to exploring the intertwinement of the papacy and the city of Rome, touching off on several vital points in history that not only influence Rome today, but the entirety of the globe.
This book isn’t a deep dive into Roman history, but it does serve well as a touch off point for those looking for specifics in history to become interested in. It’s a great intro to the history of Rome, incredibly readable and full of extensive information.
For anyone with an extensive interest in Rome, ancient history or even just history in general, I highly encourage you to read Jessica Wärnberg’s “City of Echoes”.
“City of Echoes” takes you from the ancient era soon after the death of Christ and the apostles Peter and Paul to the address given by Pope Francis I in 2020 on the Coronavirus in the Post-post-modern era. From cover to cover, Wärnberg dedicates the text to exploring the intertwinement of the papacy and the city of Rome, touching off on several vital points in history that not only influence Rome today, but the entirety of the globe.
This book isn’t a deep dive into Roman history, but it does serve well as a touch off point for those looking for specifics in history to become interested in. It’s a great intro to the history of Rome, incredibly readable and full of extensive information.
For anyone with an extensive interest in Rome, ancient history or even just history in general, I highly encourage you to read Jessica Wärnberg’s “City of Echoes”.
January 30, 2024
Jessica Warnberg’s City of Echoes purports to be the story of Rome and the papacy. More than 260 men have claimed the Petrine tiara and most have reigned from Rome. Warnberg’s is a simple thesis: Rome and the papacy are inextricably linked. Hardly a profound insight. Her corollary thesis seems to be that the papacy matters. Her coverage of the evolution of the papacy and its impact and relevance is pretty thin. She glosses over centuries of a corrupt, squalid parade of 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th century pontiffs. She minimizes the extreme reactionary popes of the 19th and even 20th century and devotes a page to Pius XII’s shameful Neglect of the Jewish population in the fascist and Nazi years. And the groundbreaking Pope John XXIII who is the agent of profound reform and ushers in Agiornamento through Vatican II is barely mentioned. This is an embarrassing effort that mixes time frames and confuses the reader with so many popes. Little insight and less analysis. Discordant and disappointing.
February 13, 2025
Very accessible and all the way from St Peter on his travels to Pope Francis in a pandemically sparse St Peter’s Square. Did you know that the Vatican City as a state is less than 100 years old and was gifted by Benito Mussolini?
January 13, 2025
A very well researched exploration of the history of Rome through the lens of papal power - from St. Peter to Pope Benedict.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews