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."

    一本新鲜出炉的罗马指南中对罗马竞技场和许愿池只字未提。这本小册子为这座不朽之城中的无家可归者提供了求生指引。根据编纂此书的圣埃吉迪奥宗教慈善团体提供的数字，意大利首都罗马有约5000人无家可归，依赖他人帮助的人更达到了50,000之多——其中多数是老人和残疾人。

    《食宿洗浴去处》被称为“罗马穷人的《米其林指南》”，该书2008版告诉了穷人和无家可归者收容所、施粥所、公共浴室和医疗服务机构的所在。

    自从1990年此书首次出版以来，人们对它的需求急剧增长。《食宿洗浴去处》第一版印了2000册，但今年这本148页的“圣经”已经印了13,000册，其中标明了760个为穷人提供服务的处所。

    “这当中包含了在罗马生存下去的秘诀，”圣埃吉迪奥团体的发言人马里奥·马拉兹蒂说，“这是罗马的另一面，这本指南告诉我们该如何应付罗马的问题。”

    他补充道：“由于经济危机，越来越多的人落到了贫困线以下。”1983年，救护车工作人员拒绝搭载一名流浪汉，后者因此死亡，正是这一事件促使圣埃吉迪奥团体开始出版这本口袋大小的罗马指南。

    今年，圣埃吉迪奥团体首次在书中加入了一份过塑的折页地图，其中以符号标出了全城所有的食宿和洗浴的热门地点。

    指南中虽然没有提到罗马竞技场，地图上却标出来了。“但它只是个参照物，”马拉兹蒂说，“游客们眼中的那个通常意义上的罗马对我们来说只是一块用作背景的幕布。”