• Short Prose

• Type: Short Story

• Found in: The World Over

Roman Fever is a short story by American author Edith Wharton set in the late afternoon on a terrace overlooking the Roman Forum. First published in Liberty magazine in 1934, it was later included in Wharton's last short-story collection, The World Over. - AsNotedIn

From the table at which they had been lunching two American ladies of ripe but well-cared-for middle age moved across the lofty terrace of the Roman restaurant and, leaning on its parapet, looked first at each other, and then down on the outspread glories of the Palatine and the Forum, with the same expression of vague but benevolent approval.

Places

• Colosseum, Rome Her gaze turned toward the Colosseum. Already its golden flank was drowned in purple shadow, and above it the sky curved crystal clear, without light or color.
• Rome, Lazio Mrs Slade leaned back, brooding, her eyes ranging from the ruins which faced her to the long green hollow of the Forum, the fading glow of the church fronts beyond it, and the outlying immensity of the Colosseum.
• Rome, Lazio Whenever I look at the Forum from up here, I remember that story about a great-aunt of yours, wasn't she? A dreadfully wicked great-aunt?