By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Dianne Bennett and William Graebner's love affair with Rome and each other began with a trip to the city in 1962.

While both were American students studying abroad in Florence, they made the trek to Rome not knowing that decades later, they would return to call the city their second home.

As the husband and wife embarked on their careers - Bennett as a lawyer, and Graebner as a professor of history - they didn't return to Italy until the late 1980s. Since retiring in 2004, the couple now lives there for 2½ months each year.

It was on a return flight from one such trip three years ago that Graebner had an idea.

"We got on the plane and we started taking some notes about a possible book," he said, "and it was from those notes and outline that this book developed."

"This book" is the culmination of the couple's passion for seeking out the hidden treasures of one of the world's most famous cities. "Rome the Second Time: 15 Itineraries That Don't Go to the Coliseum" (Curious Traveler Press) is an alternative travel guide aimed at showing readers a side of the city they won't find anywhere else.

"We have always lived in outlying neighborhoods and we have enjoyed the non-tourist experiences," Graebner said.

The book, which the two describe as part travel guide, part history lesson and part memoir, offers readers the chance to experience the food, wine, culture and rich history of Rome without being herded through the city on a tour.

"The places that we take people, you won't see any tourists," Bennett said. "On a regular tour, or if you are by yourself and don't speak Italian, there is so much you would never see."

The authors stress that the book is called "Rome the Second Time" for a reason.

"If you go for the first time, of course you want to see the Coliseum, the Forum, all of those things," Bennett said. "This is for people who are returning to Rome and want to experience another side of the city."

Among the itineraries readers will experience is a trip back in time to 1943 and the German occupation of Rome. Graebner, who taught history at Fredonia State College for more than 30 years and who taught at the University of Rome on a Fulbright professorship in 1993, calls it one of the most unusual itineraries in the book.

"We take people to the train station where Hitler came to Rome," he said, "and the station where hundreds of Rome's Jews were shipped to concentration camps in Germany. What makes this so unusual is that it's not something that is even mentioned in the average guidebook."

Indeed, within "Rome the Second Time," "Hitler and the Germans Come to Rome" is an itinerary unto itself, complete with maps detailing the Nazi leader's trip to the city in 1938. It includes a historical account of his late-night arrival at the Ostiense Train Station, where he was greeted by, among others, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

As with each itinerary, Bennett said they have designed the book to be a user-friendly guide to learning history while experiencing the present-day wonders of Rome.

Graebner called the chance to collaborate with his wife on this project "a wonderful experience."

He himself is an experienced writer, and during the two years the duo were completing "Rome the Second Time," he was simultaneously writing "Patty's Got a Gun," a retrospective look at the bank-robbery conviction and trial of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, and at mid-1970s America. Despite the heavy workload, the couple says the project turned out better than they expected, and they envision the publication of the book as the first step in an ongoing collaborative effort.

"We have a Web site that we are just getting started with," Bennett said. "As far as another book, things change so fast, a travel guide becomes outdated within a few years, so our next book will probably be a new edition of ‘Rome.' "