The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Pan, £6.99)

IT'S been 1,500 years since the last Roman legions fell to the uncouth hordes sweeping out of the East, but the ancient city state on the banks of the Tiber still fascinates today.

And it seems even modern capuccino-sipping Italians can't get enough of a warrior past when they were feared and revered throughout Europe rather than made the butt of jokes (heard the one about the Italian tank with three reverse gears?).

Apparently, you can't move in Rome these days for martially-minded Giannis and Guiseppes making like Russell Crowe at latter-day gladiatorial schools where they can practise their killing skills.

Bologna-based author Valerio Massimo Manfredi undoubtedly had his nostalgic countrymen in mind when he penned this swords-and-sandals tale set in the dying days of empire.

It follows the fortunes of a band of British-based legionaries, making their way through a Europe crumbling at the seams on a mission to rescue a doomed Rome from the barbarians already at the gates.

The adventure that ensues is tense, dramatic and ultimately moving, as a desperate bid to link up with a rumoured remnant of Rome's military machine proves futile and the legionaries are forced to flee back to Britannia as their culture crashes down behind them.

Unlike some other historical fantasies, which simply graft modern manners and speech, Flintstones-style, on to the clichd trappings of an earlier age, The Last Legion rings true.

Signor Manfredi is a professor of classical archaeology, so he should know his stuff, history-wise, but he also has an ear for dialogue that neither sounds gratingly modern nor artificially old-fashioned - though that may well owe much to the skills of the translator.

The result is an epic quest that makes you want to don a breastplate, grab a short sword and charge into battle for the greater glory of Rome.

They can keep the Latin, though.

Ceri Vines