On the day Tony Doerr and his wife returned from the hospital with their newborn twins, he received a letter from the Academy of Arts and Letters informing him that he had won the prestigious Rome Prize, which provides a stipend, an apartment, and a writing studio at the beautiful American Academy for a year. Six months and a few Italian lessons later, they arrived in Rome.

"On the day Anthony Doerr and his wife arrive home from the hospital with newborn twins, he learns he will receive the prestigious Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. With the prize comes a stipend and a writing studio in Rome for a year. Exquisitely observed, Four Seasons in Rome describes Doerr's varied adventures in one of the most enchanting cities in the world. He reads Pliny, Dante, and Keats and visits the piazzas, temples, and ancient cisterns they chronicled. He attends the vigil of a dying Pope John Paul II and takes his twins to the Pantheon in December to wait for snow to fall through the oculus. The clamor of stories and idiosyncratic child-rearing advice from the Romans he encounters is as compelling as the city itself. This intimate and revelatory book is a celebration of Rome, a wondrous look at new parenthood, and a fascinating story of a writer's craft."--From back cover.