Project Gutenberg 2025-06-24 Public domain in the USA. 158 About, Edmond 1828 1885 About, Edmond François Valentin Abu, Edmond About, E. (Edmond) Avout, Edmondos Ampou, Edmondos About, Edmond Francois Valentin Rome contemporaine. Italian Roma contemporanea $aMilano :$bFrancesco Colombo, $c1861. Barbara Magni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.) "Roma contemporanea" by Edmond About is a travelogue and social study written in the mid-19th century. It examines the Papal States—especially Rome—through concrete observations rather than political argument, portraying institutions, city life, religion, economics, and art with a sharp, ironic eye. The journey frames Rome within a wider Mediterranean context to highlight contrasts and reveal how everyday realities under papal rule compare with more modern urban models. The opening of this work declares it is not a political pamphlet but a literary study drawn from a six‑month tour, noting that debate has given way to action and that Rome’s regime prides itself on immobility. The narrative then launches into a lively, data‑rich portrait of Marseille: the Canebière as a global gateway, the stark contrast between the clean, expanding “new city” and the fetid, crumbling old quarters, and the vast redevelopment around La Joliette. About sketches the Marseillais as energetic, risk‑taking, sociable, and indulgent—tolerant in business failures, exuberant in theaters and cafés, and locked in a comic rivalry with Aix. He surveys key industries (sugar refining, seed‑oil extraction from sesame, soap works, cork production), celebrates an exceptional businesswoman who runs major factories, and shows how steam navigation and the Messageries accelerate trade, especially in grain during poor harvests. He condenses a mini‑history of speculation, the cleanup of the local bourse, and the shift toward solid securities. Municipal ambition dominates: canals, ports, a cathedral, a bourse, a palace of justice, and an imperial residence, all financed with confidence in future growth. He closes this beginning with a tart critique of local artistic taste and museum management, segueing into an illustrative Bavarian anecdote about how civic pride often misguides cultural decisions. (This is an automatically generated summary.) 20240713093923about 1861 IT Reading ease score: 52.7 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. it Italy -- Description and travel Papal States DG Text Category: Travel Writing Category: History - European Category: History - Modern (1750+) 641902 2025-07-30T07:53:07.045601 text/html 616195 2025-06-24T14:53:36 text/html 516374 2025-07-30T07:53:15.523574 application/epub+zip 516120 2025-07-30T07:53:08.775570 application/epub+zip 371719 2025-07-30T07:53:07.886614 application/epub+zip 689340 2025-07-30T07:53:20.748529 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 649300 2025-07-30T07:53:14.741561 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 594546 2025-07-30T07:53:05.708640 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 574676 2025-06-24T14:53:36 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 14603 2025-07-30T07:53:20.929487 application/rdf+xml 13797 2025-07-30T07:53:08.142586 image/jpeg 3103 2025-07-30T07:53:08.013555 image/jpeg 649562 2025-07-30T07:53:07.108555 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog fr.wikipedia en.wikipedia