This book explores a uniquely Roman type of building, the palazzina-a four- or five-story residential structure of the most meticulous design, built during the Italian economic miracle between the 1950s and '70s. A Beautiful Game focuses on the extraordinarily imaginative entrances of these buildings.

Over many years, Heiner Thofern photographed palazzine during his evening wanderings throughout the north and west districts of Rome. It was the intricately conceived and constructed entrances, ...