The Colosseum and Trevi Fountain aren't even mentioned in a hot-off-the-press guide to Rome. Instead, the pocketbook provides a guide to survival for homeless people in the Eternal City. Some 5,000 people are homeless in Italy's capital and up to 50,000 people are dependent on others for help--especially the elderly and the handicapped, according to the Sant'Egidio religious charity which drew up the book.

    The 2008 edition of "Where to Eat, Sleep and Wash," which has been dubbed the "Poor-Man's Michelin Guide to Rome," tells the needy and homeless where to find shelters, soup kitchens, public baths and health services.

    Demand for the book has skyrocketed since it was first published in 1990. The group printed 2,000 copies of the first edition but this year 13,000 copies of the 148-page "Bible" were printed, highlighting 760 locations that provide services for the needy.

    "It contains the secrets to survival in Rome," said Mario Marazziti, a spokesman for the Sant'Egidio community. "This is a different face of Rome, and the guide tells us how to cope with its problems."

    "Because of the economic crisis, more and more people are falling below the poverty line," Marazziti added. Indeed, it was the death of a vagrant in 1983 after ambulance workers refused to pick him up that inspired Sant'Egidio to start publishing its pocket-sized guides to Rome.

    For the first time, Sant'Egidio also included a fold-out plastic-coated map with symbols representing all of the eating, sleeping and washing hot spots across the city.

    Although the Colosseum does not feature in the guide, it appears on this map. "But it's just a reference," Marazziti said. "The normal Rome that tourists look at is a backdrop for us."

    一本新鮮出爐的羅馬指南中對羅馬競技場和許愿池只字未提。這本小冊子為這座不朽之城中的無家可歸者提供了求生指引。根據編纂此書的圣埃吉迪奧宗教慈善團體提供的數字，意大利首都羅馬有約5000人無家可歸，依賴他人幫助的人更達到了50,000之多——其中多數是老人和殘疾人。

    《食宿洗浴去處》被稱為“羅馬窮人的《米其林指南》”，該書2008版告訴了窮人和無家可歸者收容所、施粥所、公共浴室和醫療服務機構的所在。

    自從1990年此書首次出版以來，人們對它的需求急劇增長。《食宿洗浴去處》第一版印了2000冊，但今年這本148頁的“圣經”已經印了13,000冊，其中標明了760個為窮人提供服務的處所。

    “這當中包含了在羅馬生存下去的秘訣，”圣埃吉迪奧團體的發言人馬里奧·馬拉茲蒂說，“這是羅馬的另一面，這本指南告訴我們該如何應付羅馬的問題。”

    他補充道：“由于經濟危機，越來越多的人落到了貧困線以下。”1983年，救護車工作人員拒絕搭載一名流浪漢，后者因此死亡，正是這一事件促使圣埃吉迪奧團體開始出版這本口袋大小的羅馬指南。

    今年，圣埃吉迪奧團體首次在書中加入了一份過塑的折頁地圖，其中以符號標出了全城所有的食宿和洗浴的熱門地點。

    指南中雖然沒有提到羅馬競技場，地圖上卻標出來了。“但它只是個參照物，”馬拉茲蒂說，“游客們眼中的那個通常意義上的羅馬對我們來說只是一塊用作背景的幕布。”