The Roads to Rome by Catherine Fletcher; Italy Reborn by

Fletcher’s epic and witty study unearths the history of the Roman roads and their hold on our imagination, while Gilbert celebrates Alcide De Gasperi, the postwar Christian Democrat politician whose passion for democracy energised a country scarred by war and Mussolini

There are few concepts as resonant as “Roman road”. The words ooze purpose, chutzpah and superiority. Catherine Fletcher’s epic study unpacks every aspect of the subject: from the roads’ construction and military importance to their hold over our imaginations and those of imperialist imitators. “They offer a lesson in the exercise of power across the centuries,” she writes.

It’s estimated there were a total of around 100,000km of Roman roads. Fletcher travels across 14 countries to trace the routes and the reasons for their existence: Cicero suggested that they bound states together through “alliance, friendship, covenant, agreement, treaty”, but they were also, of course, military supply lines for the suppression of rebels.