Ronchey, S. and T. Braccini. Il romanzo di Costantinopoli. Guida letteraria alla Roma d’Oriente. Turin: Einaudi, 2016

Il romanzo di Costantinopoli is a vast collection (c.1000 pp.) and translation - in many cases for the first time in a modern language  - of pieces on Constantinople and its Byzantine monuments, taken from the most authoritative editions. There are contributions from 150 poets, travellers, philosophers, explorers, scholars, pilgrims, adventurers from a variety of nationalities and epochs, from the 4th century to the present day. From Procopius to Le Corbusier, Paul the Silentiary to Osip Mandelstam, Psellos to Dos Passos, Anna Comnena to Flaubert, Ibn Battuta to Gide, Gilles to Loti, Grelot to Melville, Andersen to Cocteau, Chateaubriand to Fermor, De Amicis to Mark Twain, Byron to Yeats, Nerval to Pamuk, anecdotes and descriptions wind through the Rome of the Orient in ten itineraries, creating a topography that is also a journey through time and into the secrets of the historical, artistic, and cultural legacy of Byzantium. Each itinerary is preceded by an introduction to the monuments and sites, each updated according to the most recent topographical, archaeological, and art historical research, and is illustrated with a map of the route with precise directions to the sites within the labyrinth of old City.  Accompanied by more than 150 illustrations, including drawings, engravings, historical photos, and maps, the volume also contains notes, updated bibliography, and a biographical supplement with profiles of all of the authors cited.