An interesting book written during the Italian 2020 lockdown. It's an interesting description of how the author faced that time and how was living in Rome.
It's the good picture of a historical moment, well written and engrossing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Rome Plague Diaries is a wonderful, personal reflection on what life is like living in Rome as the city went into lockdown in March 2020. Imagine from one day to the next being restricted to just a single postcode in Testaccio, restricted both in movement, habits and contacts with those around you. The author has an impressive knowledge and experience of what life is like living in Rome and discusses the many habits, quirks, subtleties and (sometimes flawed) cliches that outsiders have of life in and the inhabitants of the Eternal City as well as a multitude of delicious-sounding Italian recipes. They seem so simple, but probably the taste is also down to the superior ingredients which the author describes with gusto. The book ends in May 2020, but we know by now that the ravages of covid were at that time by no history, so this was just a temporary reprieve.

I try to visit Rome myself at least once every year, being completely in love with the city, and prefer to stay in Trastevere so Kneale's descriptions of his surroundings and experiences. sometimes witty, sometimes serious, are recognisable and highly relatable. I especially enjoyed the author's hypothetical wandering through the city, introducing well-known, but also lesser known sights of the city, which I'm sure to include in my itinerary next time I go. I also cherished his reflection on what it means to see the United Kingdom leave the (in many senses dysfunctional, but highly diverse) European Union, having lived outside of my place of birth for many years yourself. Having missed the opportunity of going to Rome this year, reading this book, I still feel I have been able to enjoy a virtual visit through the eyes of the author. Thank you so much.

An interesting and extremely relevant book, beginning in our March lockdown and continuing for agios few months - and obviously, things have changed again since Matthew Kneale wrote this.

Kneale writes about his experiences of living in Rome in the COVID-19 pandemic. Interspersed with the diary entries are recipes - often for pasta dishes, perhaps one of life’s comforts - but also, quite a lot of historical information about Rome. Kneale has lived in Rome for a good many years, with his Canadian wife and children, and it’s his home, therefore he knows about how Italy works and how the pandemic is affecting people there.

This is a relevant and fairly easy read in our current time. I was a little disappointed with the over-reliance on history, though, and would have preferred more entries about the here and now. Despite this, it’s always comforting, I feel, to read about others’ experiences and Kneale is successful here.

This was utterly fascinating, frightening and yet comforting. Though there were moments of boasting (rightfully so I might add) about the differences between Italy’s handling of the Pandemics crisis compared with how UK managed it, and yes is still managing it (or not). I found myself wanting to and yes dreaming of visiting Italy again... all this talk about food, coffee and culture has made me yearn for a time to be able to fly out and visit places like before. This was marvellous... and a definite must read for everyone.