Archaeological guides to ancient Rome form an important resource for scholars, teachers, students and tourists alike, and for Rome's Republican and Imperial history two stand out: F. Coarelli, Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide (2009) and A. Claridge, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (1998; 2nd edn, 2010). Both Claridge's and Coarelli's guides cover the significant monuments in Rome dating from 800 b.c. to a.d. 600 (the Capitoline Hill, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, etc.); however, due to this end date, one area of Rome's monuments only partly covered in both guides is its churches. Although churches and catacombs are not completely absent from these two guides, churches are not systematically treated in the way that many visitors to the ancient city interested in Christian basilicas from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages might want. As such, Maria Fabricius Hansen's guidebook has filled an important gap, providing a much-needed guide to Rome's ‘spolia churches’ for the English-speaking visitor. H.’s focus on spolia, the general term now adopted for ‘architectural elements or pieces of sculpture taken from one site and reused in a different spot, often in a different way … creating combinations of all sorts of materials and styles’ (9–10) forms an interesting and appealing way to explore Rome's churches.

The guide is lightweight and is easily portable — it can be readily slipped into a pocket or rucksack as one explores the early Christian churches of Rome and their spolia. The distribution of the churches (many outside the Aurelian Walls) offers the bonus opportunity for visitors to discover sites away from the more often explored historical centre of Rome. While the guide could certainly be used as a brief introduction for students interested in Late Antiquity and the early medieval churches of Rome, scholars (and students) wanting a more detailed overview of this topic would do well to examine H. Brandenburg, Die frühchristlichen Kirchen Roms vom 4. bis zum 7. Jahrhundert: der Beginn der abendlandischen Kirchenbaukunst (2004, available in English and Italian translations) and R. Bernabei, Chiese di Roma (2007) — both of which are listed as further reading in H.’s bibliography at the end of the guide. In addition, H. is herself a specialist in spolia, and those interested in the subject would be well advised to look at her own book: The Eloquence of Appropriation: Prolegomena to an Understanding of Spolia in Early Christian Rome (2003).

The Spolia Churches of Rome: Recycling Antiquity in the Middle Ages, as H. herself notes, is very much aimed at a general audience — for those ‘eager to get off the beaten track of mainstream tourism and explore the phenomenon of spolia in the Medieval churches of Rome’ (11). Each text is easy-going and comfortably digested in a short visit to the associated structure. The first part of H.’s guidebook includes six short sections: ‘Historical Background’ (13–27), ‘Use of Spolia in the Early Christian Basilica’ (28–32), ‘Principles for the Distribution of Spolia’ (33–48), ‘Building on the Past’ (49–56), ‘Materials and Meaning’ (57–73) and ‘Old and New side by side’ (74–85). This part provides a useful and insightful synthesis covering the basic history of late antique and medieval Rome, the evolution of spolia and astute perceptions on spolia-use, providing the non-specialist reader with a very readable introduction to the spolia churches of Rome.

The second part of the guidebook contains a more detailed description (and illustrations) of eleven churches: the Lateran Baptistery (86–99), Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura (100–11), San Clemente (112–23), Santa Costanza (124–35), San Giorgio in Velabro (136–45), San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (146–61), Santa Maria in Cosmedin (162–73), Santa Maria in Trastevere (174–83), San Nicola in Carcere (184–93), Santa Sabina (194–205) and Santo Stefano Rotondo (206–20). H. selected these churches based on both aesthetic and historical merit — the eleven churches ‘represent different forms of architectural recycling from different periods of the Middle Ages’, and thus visiting ‘one or two churches a day … you can gain a very good impression of the Medieval Churches of Rome and their antique spoils’ (11–12). The corpus of eleven churches included many of the current reviewer's favourite examples of spolia and Christian architecture in Rome, and certainly makes up an excellent cross-section of the city's basilicas. In each case, the description of the church is engaging and succinct. For each church, H. provides a short introduction and descriptions of the exterior and interior, and each entry features a useful plan. The descriptions are intended to be referred to in situ when visiting a particular church. From a practical point of view, the guide works very well and is easy to use on-site (the reviewer was able to road test the book in Rome at all of the eleven churches during a three-month fellowship at the British School at Rome).

Overall, H.’s guidebook is very well illustrated with plans and both colour and black-and-white photographs, in each case with excellent accompanying captions. H. is constantly mindful of her target audience. She provides intelligent and clear explanations to the spolia churches discussed in her guide. This work constitutes an easily accessible and enjoyable addition to archaeological guidebooks of Rome — filling a much needed gap in guides dedicated to the architectural history of the city.