Rome

Rome (Roma) is the of  and of the  region, as well as the country's largest and most populous , with more than 2.7 million residents. The metropolitan area has a population of about 4 million. It is located in the central-western portion of the, where the river joins the. The is.

An of Rome is the State of the, the   of the. It is the smallest in the world, and the capital of the only religion to have representation in the  (as a non-member observer state).

Rome, Caput mundi ("capital of the world"), la Città Eterna ("the Eternal City"), Limen Apostolorum ("threshold of the Apostles"), la città dei sette colli ("the city of the ") or simply l'Urbe ("the City"), is thoroughly modern and cosmopolitan. As one of the few major European cities that escaped relatively unscathed, central Rome remains essentially  and  in character. The Historic Centre of Rome is listed by as a.

From founding to Empire
According to, the city of Rome was founded by the  on , , and archaeological evidence supports the theory that Rome grew from  settlements on the  built in the area of the future , coalescing into a city in the. The city developed into the of the  (ruled by a succession of  s, according to tradition),  (from 510 BC, governed by the ), but finally the  (from 27 BC, ruled by an ); this success depended on military conquest, commercial predominance, as well as selective assimilation of neighboring civilizations, most notably the  and. From the foundation of Rome in 753 BC, the City of Rome was undefeated militarily (though losing occasional battles), until 386 BC, when Rome was occupied by (one of the three main Gallic tribes), and then recovered by Romans in the same year. Livy, Book 5. According to the history, the Gauls offered to deliver Rome back to its people for a thousand pounds of gold, but the Romans refused, preferring to take back their city by force of arms rather than ever admitting defeat. Id.

Roman dominance expanded over most of and the shores of the, while its  surpassed one million inhabitants. For almost a thousand years, Rome was the most politically important, richest and largest city in the, and remained so after the Empire started to and was split, even if it ultimately lost its capital status to  and then , and was surpassed in prestige by the  capital.

Fall of the Empire and Middle Ages
With the reign of, the gained political as well as religious importance, eventually becoming known as the  and establishing Rome as the centre of the Catholic Church. After the by  and the  in  AD, Rome alternated between  and plundering by. Its population declined to a mere 20,000 during the, reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins and vegetation. Rome remained nominally part of the until  AD when the  finally abolished the. In, gave the pope temporal jurisdiction over Rome and surrounding areas, thus creating the. Rome remained the capital of the until its annexation into the  in ; the city became a major  site during the  and the focus of struggles between the  and the  starting with, who was crowned its first emperor in Rome on  800 AD by. Apart from brief periods as an independent city during the, Rome kept its status of Papal capital and "holy city" for centuries, even when the Pope briefly relocated to (1309–1337). While no longer politically powerful, as tragically shown by the brutal, the city flourished as a hub of cultural and artistic activity during the and the , under the patronage of the.

17–19th century
rose again and reached 100,000 during the, but Rome ultimately lagged behind the rest of the European capitals over the subsequent centuries, being largely busy in the process. Caught up in the turmoils of the  and having twice gained and lost a short-lived independence, Rome became the focus of the hopes for Italian unification, as propelled by the  ruled by King ; after the  protection was lifted in, royal troops stormed the city, and Rome was declared capital of the newly unified Italy in.

20th century
After a victorious, Rome witnessed the rise to power of guided by , who  on the city in , eventually declared a new  and allied  with. This was a period of rapid growth in population, from the 212,000 people at the time of unification to more than 1,000,000, but this trend was halted by, during which Rome was damaged by both  and Nazi occupation; after the execution of  and the end of the war, a  abolished the monarchy in favor of the. Rome grew momentously after the war, as one of the driving forces behind the "Italian economic miracle" of post-war and. It became a city in the 1950s and early 1960s, the years of  ("the sweet life"), and a new rising trend in population continued till the mid-1980s, when the comune had more than 2,800,000 residents; after that, population started to slowly decline as more residents moved to nearby comuni; this has been attributed to their perceiving a decrease in the quality of life, especially because of the continuously  and the worsening  it brings about. In recent years the trend has changed again and the population is increasing again, thanks also to the cultural and economic dynamism of the city and immigration from many different countries.

Location
Rome is in the region of, at the confluence of the  and  (Italian: Tevere) rivers. Although the city center is about 24 kilometers inland from the, the city territory extends to the very shore, where the south-western district is located. The of Rome ranges from  meters  (in ) to 120 meters above sea level (the peak of ). The comune of Rome covers an overall of about 1,285 square kilometers, including many green areas.

Climate
Rome enjoys a typical which characterizes the  coasts of Italy. It is at its most comfortable from April through June, and from mid-September to October; in particular, the Roman ottobrate (ottobrata can roughly be translated as "beautiful October day") are famously known as sunny and warm days. By August, the during the heat of the day often exceeds 32 °C (90 °F); traditionally, many businesses would close during August, and Romans would abandon the city for holiday resorts, but this trend is weakening, and the city is increasingly remaining fully functional during the whole summer, in response to growing tourism as well as change in the population's work habits. The average high temperature in December is about 14 °C (57 °F).

Ancient Rome
One of the symbols of Rome is the (70-80), the largest  ever built in the. Originally capable of seating 60,000 spectators, it was used for ial. The list of the very important monuments of ancient Rome includes the, the , the , , , the , the , the , the , the , the.

Renaissance and Baroque
Rome was a major world center of the, second only to , and was profoundly affected by the movement. The most impressive masterpiece of in Rome is the  by, along with the Palazzo Senatorio, seat of the city government. During this period, the great aristocratic families of Rome used to build opulent dwellings as the (now seat of the ), the, the , the , the  (now seat of the ), the , the , and the. Rome is also famous for her huge and majestic squares, often adorned with, many of which were built in the. The principal squares are, , , , , and. One of the most emblematic examples of the baroque art is the by. Other notable of  are the, now seat of the  and the , now seat of the.

Neoclassicism
In, Rome became capital city of the new. During this time,, a building style influenced by the architecture of , became a predominant influence in Roman architecture. In this period many great palaces in neoclassical styles were built to host ministries, embassies and other governing agencies. One of the best-known symbol of Roman is the  or "Altar of Fatherland", where the, that represents the 650,000 Italians that fell in , is located.

Fascist architecture
The that ruled in Italy between 1922 and 1943 developed an original architectural style, characterized by feast and the research of a link with ancient Rome architecture. The most important fascist style site in Rome is the district, built in. It was originally conceived for the, and was called "E.42" ("Esposizione 42"). However, the world exhibition never took place because entered the  in 1940. The most representative building of the Fascist style at E.U.R. is the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (1938-1943), the iconic design of which has been labeled the or Square. After World War II, the Roman authorities found that they already had a gem of an off-centre that other capitals were still planning ( and  in Paris). Also the, the actual seat of Italian Foreign Ministry, was designed in in fascist style.

Villas and gardens


The center of Rome is surrounded by some large green areas and opulent, which are the remains of the crowns of villas which encircled the papal city. Most of them were largely destroyed by real estate speculation at the end of the. The most important among the surviving ones are:
 * , with a large landscape garden in the naturalistic 19th century English style, containing a number of buildings, museums (see ) and attractions;
 * , the largest public landscaped park of Rome;
 * , the second largest with an area of 1.8 km²;
 * , a splendid example of mansion that was the Roman residence of ;
 * , commissioned by to house his collection of antiquities and Roman sculpture, which soon filled the casino that faced the Villa down a series of formal parterres.

Capital status


Rome is the national capital of Italy and is the seat of the, whose official residence is Palace. Rome hosts also the Italian Parliament, Italian Prime Minister and all the ministries. The is  of, elected in 2001 and again for a second term in 2006. A political in Italy focuses on the opportunity of providing the city with "special powers" of local jurisdiction (the "Roma Capitale" directives), and possibly of turning either the comune or the  into a "capital district" separate from the  region, modelled after other European capital cities.

Subdivisions


The territory of the commune of Rome is divided into 19 Municipi (area subdivisions). Originally, the city was divided into 20 sub-municipalities, but the, what is now the , voted some years ago to become a full municipality itself and eventually detached from Rome.

Other sovereign entities
Rome is unique in its containing two other entities. One is the, the political and religious entity that governs the territory of the (a   since 1870, officially recognised as such in 1929), as well as claiming  over a few other palaces and churches, mostly in the city centre; indeed, Rome hosts foreign  to both Italy and the Holy See. The other entity is the (SMOM), which took refuge in Rome in  after having lost  to  in, and thus claims no territory (leading to disputes over its actual sovereign status);  too owns  palaces in central Rome.

International involvement
Rome has traditionally been heavily involved in the process of European political integration. In, the hosted the signing of the , which established the  (predecessor to the ), and also played host to the official signing of the proposed  in July 2004. Rome is also the seat of significant international organizations, such as the of the, and is the place where the  was formulated.

Demography
At the time of Emperor, Rome was the largest city in the world, and probably the largest ever built until the nineteenth century. Estimates of its peak population range from 450,000 to over 3.5 million people with 1 to 2 million being most popular with historians. After the, the city's population may have been less than 50,000, and continued to stagnate (or shrink) until the. When the  annexed Rome in 1870, it had a population of about 200,000, which rapidly increased to 600,000 by the end of the 19th century. The fascist regime of Mussolini tried to block an excessive demographic rise of the city, but failed to prevent it from reaching one million people by 1931.

After, Rome continued to expand, with the creation of new and suburbs in '50s and '60s. Today the official population stands at 2.7 million; the Urban Area of Rome is home to about 4 million in an area of 5,352 km² (2,066 sq mi). 156,833 residents in the are of foreign nationality, representing 6.2% of total residents.

Economy


Modern day Rome has a dynamic and diverse economy with thriving, s, and sectors. It produces 6.7% of the national (more than any other city in Italy). Rome grows +4,4% annually and continues to grow at a higher rate in comparison to any other city in the rest of the country. Following Rome's economic growth began to overtake its rivals,  and, although a traditional rivalry persists with Milan today. is inevitably one of Rome's chief industries, with numerous notable museums including the, the , and the. Rome is also the hub of the, thanks to the studios. The city is also a center for as well as  and  industries. Numerous international headquarters, government ministries, conference centres, sports venues and museums are located in Rome's principal business districts: the (EUR); the Torrino (further south from the EUR); the Magliana; the Parco de' Medici-Laurentina and the so-called Tiburtina-valley along the ancient Via Tiburtina.

Religion
The  (literally, the "Roman Religion") constituted the major religion of the city in. The first gods held sacred by the Romans were Jupiter, the most high, and, god of war, and father of Rome's twin founders, and Remus, according to tradition. The goddess became an important part of the Roman Pantheon at an early stage of the Roman Monarchy. The goddess joined Roman Pantheon during the Monarchy times as the central goddess uniting worship between Rome and several of its neighbors, thus creating the basis for a coalition. The goddess was imported to Rome from the ancient city of Veii, after Veii fell to the Roman military, following a long period of wars between the two cities, during the time of the Roman Republic. Other gods and goddesses were honored in Rome and added to the Pantheon throughout the Monarchy and Republic periods. See Livy, Books 1-5.

The Roman religion was largely concerned with interpreting divine messages (augeries) through natural occurrences (omens). However, Rome had no augerers of its own, and largely relied upon augerers to interpret the divine omens. For this reason, Rome was left without any augerers during its last war with Veii, and Etruscan city, and was forced to send envoys all the way to Greece, to consult the famous. Livy, Book 5.

Several other religions and imported s remained represented within its ever-expanding boundaries during the Roman Republic and Empire periods, including, whose presence in the city dates back from the and was sometimes forcibly confined to the , as well as  which was the official religion of the Roman Empire for about two centuries, until being superceded by , following the death of Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century AD. Christianity was made the  of the  in 380 by Emperor , allowing it to spread further and eventually wholly replace Mithraism and the Roman Religion.

Rome became the pre-eminent city (vis-a-vis  and, and later  and ) based on the tradition that  and  were ed in the city during the 1st century, coupled with the city's political importance. The, later known as the , claimed primacy over all Bishops and therefore all Christians on the basis that he is the successor of , upon whom built his Church; his prestige had been enhanced since  through donations by Roman emperors and patricians, including the  and patriarchal basilicas, as well as the obviously growing influence of the Church over the failing civil imperial authority. Papal authority has been exercised over the centuries with varying degrees of success, at times triggering divisions among Christians, until the present. With the increasing chaos and disorder leading to the collapse of the Roman Empire in, the popes assumed more and more civil authority first in Rome and in the surrounding territories. Rome became the center of the and the  of the ; consequently, a great number of churches, convents and other religious buildings were erected in the city, sometimes above the ruins of older pre-Christian sites of worship. during the Renaissance, when the Rome's most notable churches were built (this includes  on the  (the largest church in the world) and the city  of  at the . The  established its residence first in the, then in the . When Rome was annexed by force to the newly unified  In ,  retired to the , proclaiming himself a prisoner of the  and leading to decades of conflict between the neonate state and the Catholic Church. This was resolved in , when the  were signed in Rome, establishing the right for the  to govern the  as an independent, . The s of Rome remain  and  (or, as they are collectively referred to in this context, "the most holy Saints Peter and Paul"), both celebrated on . In recent years, the ic community has grown significantly, in great part due to  from n and ern countries into the city. As a consequence of this trend, the comune promoted the building of the largest  in , which was designed by   and inaugurated on ,.

Language
The original language of Rome was, which evolved during the into. The latter emerged as the confluence of various regional dialects, among which the predominated, but the population of Rome also developed its own dialect, the. The ancient romanesco, used during the, was a southern Italian dialect, very close to the. The influence of the culture during the, and, above all, the immigration to Rome of many Florentines who were among the two  Popes' ( and ) suite, caused a strong change of the dialect, which became much closer to the Tuscan varieties (the immigration of Florentines was mainly due to the  and the subsequent demographic decrease). This remained largely confined to Rome until the, but then expanded other zones of , from the beginning of the , thanks to the rising population of Rome and to better transportation systems. As a consequence, abandoned its traditional forms to  into the dialect spoken within the city, which is more similar to standard, although remaining distinct from other Romanesco-influenced local dialects of Lazio. literature in the traditional form includes the works of such authors as, , and. Contemporary is mainly represented by popular actors such as, , , , , , and.

Universities
Rome is a nation-wide center for. Its first, (founded in 1303), is the largest in  and the second largest in the world, with more than 150,000 students attending. Two new public universities were founded: in 1982, and  in, although the latter has now become larger than the former. Rome also contains a large number of and institutes, including the  (The oldest  university in the world, founded in ), the, and many others. The city also hosts various private universities, such as the, the (Roman centre), the , ,the , the , the , the ,the Link , the , and the. Rome is also the location of the, a campus of.

Music
Rome is an important center for music. It hosts the (founded in 1585), for which new concert halls were recently built in the new, one of the largest musical venues in the world. Rome also has an, the , as well as several minor musical institutions. The city also played host to the and the.

Cinema
Rome hosts the Studios, the largest film and television production facility in continental Europe and the center of the, where a large number of today's biggest box office hits are filmed. The 99 acre (40 ha) studio complex is just 5.6 miles (9 km) from the centre of Rome and is part of one of the biggest production communities in the world, second only to Hollywood, with well over 5,000 experienced, multilingual professionals - from period costume makers to visual effects specialists. With more than 3,000 productions which have been made on its lot, from recent features like, , ’S , and ’ , to such cinema classics as ,  and the films of , many consider it synonymous with Italian cinema and moviemaking in general.

Founded in by , the studios were bombed by the  during. In the 1950s, Cinecittà was the filming location for several large, and subsequently became the studio most closely associated with. Today Cinecittà is the only studio in the world with pre-production, production and full post-production facilities on one lot, allowing directors and producers to walk in with their script and walk out with a completed film.

Sports
Rome hosted the and is an official candidate to hosting the. is the most popular in Rome, as in the rest of the country. The hosted the final game of the ; it is also the home stadium for local  clubs  and, whose rivalry has become a staple of Roman sports culture. Indeed, famous footballers who play for these teams and are also born in the city tend to become especially popular, as has been the case with players such as and  (both for A.S. Roma);  and  (both for Lazio). While far from being as popular as football, is gaining wider acceptance. The is the home stadium for the, which has been playing in the  since , albeit with less than satisfactory performances, as they have never won the championship so far. Rome is home to local rugby teams, such as, , and. Every May, Rome hosts the  tournament on the clay courts of the. was immensely popular in the post- period, although its popularity has faded in the last decades; Rome has hosted the final portion of the twice, in 1989 and 2000. Every spring, the annual is considered to be the most widely attended sports event in Italy. Rome is also home to many other sports teams, including,  ,  (male: , female:  and ), and.

City centre
The historical centre ville is dominated by the traditional "": the, , , , , , and hills. The Tiber flows south through Rome, with the city centre located where the midstream facilitated crossing. Large parts of the ancient city walls remain. The was built twelve years after ' sack of the city in 390 BC; it contained most of the Esquiline and Caelian hills, as well as the whole of the other five. Rome grew out of the, but no more walls were constructed until 270 AD, when began building the. These were almost twelve miles (19 km) long, and was still the wall the troops of the had to breach to enter the city in.

Though relatively small, the old city center contains about 300 hotels and 300 , over 200 palaces, 900 churches, eight of Rome's major parks, the, the houses of the , offices of the city and city government, and many great and well-known monuments. The old city also contains thousands of workshops, offices, bars, and restaurants. Millions of tourists visit Rome annually, making it one of the most visited cities in the world.

Peripheral layout
The ancient city within the walls covers about four percent of the modern municipality's 1507 sqkm. The historic city centre is the smallest of Rome's nineteen administrative zones. The city centre is made up of 22  (districts), with one of them,, actually lying out of the walled area. Surrounding the centre are 35 quartieri urbani (urban sectors), and within the city limits are six large suburbi. The comune of Rome located outside the municipal boundaries about doubles the area of the actual city.

The belt known as  (G.R.A.) describes a huge circle around the capital, about six miles (10 km) out from the city centre; unlike most Italian highways, the G.R.A. is toll-free. The circlular highway ties together the ancient roads that led to Rome in antiquity: the, , , , and. The modern Via Appia connects the city centre to a string of towns known as.



Vatican City
The city of Rome surrounds the Vatican City, the of the, which is a separate sovereign state. It hosts with the. The open space before the basilica was redesigned by, from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of , as an appropriate forecourt, designed "so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace" (Norwich 1975 p 175). In Vatican City there are also the prestigious, with the , the  and other important works of , , , and.

Museums and galleries
The list of most important museums and galleries of Rome includes: the, the , the National Etruscan Museum, the , the , the Museum of , and the.

Airports
Rome is served by three, of which the main two are owned by. The intercontinental is Italy's chief airport; it is more commonly known as, as it is located within the territory of the nearby  of , south-west of Rome. The older is a joint civilian and military airport; it is more commonly referred to as "Ciampino Airport", as it is located within Roman territory near the border with the comune of, south-east of Rome.

A third airport, the, is a small, low-traffic airport located about 6 km north of the city centre, which handles most and private flights. A fourth airport in the eastern part of the city, the (dedicated to ), is no longer open to flights; it hosts the  (which coordinates the activities of the ) and the  (which coordinates all Italian military activities), although large parts of the airport are being redeveloped as a public park.

Railways
Rome is the hub of the Italian railways.

History of Rome railroad
 * The first railroad built in Rome (and the second railway built in Italy) the, was opened for service on July 14, 1856.
 * On April 16, 1859 the was opened for service.
 * On January 27, 1862 the was opened for service.
 * On April 28, 1864 the was opened for service.
 * On June 12, 1916 the was opened for service.

Stations in the city

Located on the, Rome's central station, called , was opened in , then demolished and completely rebuilt between 1939 and 1951; it is operated by and mainly served by. It is the single largest station in and is visited by 600,000 passengers daily; it has twenty-nine railway platforms, and also serves as a  and. The second largest station in the city is, which is being redeveloped for service. Other notable stations include, , , , and.

Underground


A 2-line system operates in Rome, called the "Metropolitana" or. Construction on the first branch started in the 1930s. The line had been planned to quickly connect the main train station with the newly planned E42 area in the southern suburbs, where the 1942  was supposed to be held. The event never took place because of war. The area was later partly redesigned and renamed (Esposizione Universale di Roma: Rome Universal Exhibition) in the 1950s to serve as a modern business district. The line was finally opened in 1955 and it is now part of the B Line. The A line opened in 1980 from Ottaviano to Anagnina stations, later extended in stages (1999 - 2000) to Battistini. In the 1990s, an extension of the B line was opened from Termini to Rebibbia. This underground network is generally reliable (although it may become very congested at peak times and during events, especially the A line) as it is relatively short. As of 2005, its total length is 38 km. The two existing lines, A & B, only intersect at.

A new branch of the B line (B1) is under construction with an estimated cost of 482.900.000 Euro. It is scheduled to open in. B1 will connect to line B at Piazza Bologna and will have 4 stations over a distance of 3.9 km.

A third line, line C, is under construction with an estimated cost of 3.000.000.000 Euro and will have 30 stations over a distance of 25.5 km. It will partly replace the existing tram line, Termini-Pantano. It will feature full automated, driverless trains. The first section will open in and the final sections in. Archaeological findings frequently delay underground construction work.

A fourth line, line D, is under development. It will have 22 stations over a distance of 20 km. The first section will open in and the final sections before.

Overground


The is part of an extensive transport network made of a tramway network, suburban and urban lines in and around the city of Rome, plus an "express line" to Fiumicino Airport. Whereas most -Regionale lines (Regional State Railways) do provide mostly a suburban service with more than 20 stations scattered throughout the city, the Roma-Lido (starting at Ostiense station), the Roma-Pantano (starting nearby Termini) and the Roma-Nord (starting at Flaminio station) lines offer a metro-like service. There is also an overground rail system with seven lines which link the hinterland of the Roman Area. One of this leads to the second Airport of the city,. Rome also has a comprehensive and light rail system. The English web site of the ATAC public transportation company allows a route to be calculated using the buses, light rail and subways. The Metrebus integrated fare system allows holders of tickets and integrated passes to travel on all companies vehicles, within the validity time of the ticket purchased. 



Motor Traffic Limited Zone (ZTL)
Chronic congestion caused by cars during the 1970s and 1980s led to the banning of unauthorized traffic from the central part of city during workdays from 6 a.m. to 6 pm. This area is officially called (Italian) Zona a Traffico Limitato (ZTL). Heavy traffic due to night-life crowds during weekends led in recent years to the creation of other ZTLs in the Trastevere and S. Lorenzo districts during the night, and to experimentation with a new night ZTL also in the city center (plans to create a night ZTL in the Testaccio district as well are underway). In recent years, parking spaces along the streets in wide areas of the city have been converted to pay parking, as new underground parking spread throughout the city. In spite of all these measures, Rome's traffic remains an unsolved problem.

International relations
Rome has one and a number of partner cities:

Twin city:
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Documentaries

 * The Holy Cities: Rome produced by Danae Film Production, distributed by HDH Communications; 2006.