Roman Holiday

Rome in the 1950s: following the darkness of fascism and Nazi occupation during the Second World War, the city is reinvigorated. The street cafés and nightclubs are filled with movie stars and film directors as Hollywood productions flock to the city to film at Cinecittà Studios. Fiats and Vespas throng the streets, and the newly christened paparazzi mingle with tourists enjoying la dolce vita. It is a time of beauty, glamour - and more than a little scandal. Caroline Young explores the city in its golden age, as the emergence of celebrity journalism gave rise to a new kind of megastar. They are the ultimate film icons: Ava Gardner, Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman and Elizabeth Taylor. Set against the backdrop of the stunning Italian capital, the story follows their lives and loves on and off the camera, and the great, now legendary, films that marked their journeys. From the dark days of the Second World War through to the hedonistic hippies in the late 1960s, this evocative narrative captures the essence of Rome - its beauty, its tragedy and its creativity - through the lives of those who helped to recreate it.

Caroline Young is the author of Style Tribes: The Fashion of Subcultures, Classic Hollywood Style and the upcoming Tartan and Tweed, all published by Frances Lincoln. She has worked as a fashion writer and assistant digital editor at Herald Scotland. She has a strong interest in the history of fashion and the golden age of Hollywood, and extensively researched the period at archives in Los Angeles for both her book Classic Hollywood Style.