Rome

Rome is the largest city in Italy and its municipality is one of the largest in Europe with an area of 1290 square kilometers (it could easily encircle the nine Italian cities following Rome in size: Milan, Naples, Turin, Bologna, Palermo, Catania, Florence, Genoa and Bari). It has a population of 2,546,807 (2004) with almost 4 million living in the metropolitan area. The current mayor of Rome is Walter Veltroni.

With a GDP of €75 billion (higher than New Zealand's and equivalent to Singapore's), in the year 2001 Rome's municipality produced 6.5% of Italy's total GDP, the highest rate among all of Italy's cities.

The city's history extends nearly 2,800 years, during which time it has been the seat of ancient Rome (the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, Roman Empire), and later the Papal States, Kingdom of Italy and Italian Republic.

History

The origin of the city's name is unknown, with several theories already circulating in Antiquity; the least likely is derived from Greek Ρώμη meaning braveness, courage; more probably the connection is with a root *rum-, "teat", with possible reference to the totem wolf (Latin lupa, a word also meaning "prostitute") that adopted and suckled the cognately-named twins Romulus and Remus. Romulus and Remus are believed to come from the people of Lavinium.

The Basque scholar Manuel de Larramendi thought that the origin could be related to the Basque word orma (modern Basque horma), "wall".

Early history

Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill and surrounding hills approximately eighteen miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south side of the Tiber. Another of these hills, the Quirinal Hill, was probably an outpost for another Italic-speaking people, the Sabines. At this location the Tiber forms an Z-shape curve that contains an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic following the river valley and of traders traveling north and south on the west side of the peninsula.

Peoples of early-Italy

The 29 settlements at Palatine and Quirinal were two of numerous Italic-speaking communities that existed in Latium, a plain on the Italian peninsula, by the 1st millennium BC. Pieces of pottery that indicate the area of Rome may have been inhabited as early as 1400 BC have been discovered. The origins of the Italic peoples is not known, but they may have descended from Indo-Europeans who migrated from north of the Alps in the second-half of the 2nd millennium BC or from a blending of these peoples with Mediterranean people, perhaps from North Africa. In the 8th century BC, these Italic speakers — Latins (in the west), Sabines (in the upper valley of the Tiber), Umbrians (in the north-east), Samnites (in the South), Oscans and others — shared the peninsula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans, in the North and the Greeks in the south.
The Etruscans (Etrusci or Tusci in Latin) were settled north of Rome in Etruria (modern Tuscany). They deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly showed by the Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings.
The Greeks had founded many colonies in Southern Italy (that the Romans later called Magna Graecia), such as Cumae, Naples and Taranto, as well as in the eastern two-thirds of Sicily, between 750 and 550 BC.

Etruscan dominance

After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central Italy. They came to control Rome and perhaps all of Latium. Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven kings from 753 to 509 BC beginning with the mythic Romulus who along with his brother Remus were said to have founded the city of Rome. Two of the last three kings were said to be Etruscan. While the king list is of dubious historical value, it is known that Rome was under the influence of the Etruscans for about a century during this period. During this period a bridge called the Pons Sublicius was built to replace the Tiber ford, and Cloaca Maxima was also built by the Etruscan engineering (Etruscans had arguably the second-greatest impact on Roman development, only surpassed by the Greeks).

Expanding further south, the Etruscans came into direct contact with the Greeks. After initial success in conflicts with the Greek colonists, Etruria went into a decline. Around 500 BC Rome gained independence from the Etruscans.

However, the Etruscans left a lasting influence on Rome. The Romans learned to build temples from them, and the Etruscans introduced the worship of a triad of gods — Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter — from the Etruscan gods: Uni, Menrva, and Tinia. They transformed Rome from a pastoral community into a city. They also passed on elements of Greek culture that they had adopted, such as the Western version of the Greek alphabet.

Roman Expansion

After 500 BC, Rome joined with the Latin cities in defense against incursions by the Sabines. By 400 BC Etruscan power was limited to Etruria itself. Rome began to emerge as the dominant city in Latium, but in 387 BC was sacked by invaders from Gaul who had successfully invaded Etruria. After that, Rome went on the offensive, conquering the Etruscans and seizing terroritory from the Gauls in the north and pushing south against other Latins and the Samites in the South. By 290 BC, over half of the Italian penisula was controlled by Rome. In the 3rd century BC the Greek poleis in the south were brought under Roman control as well.

The Roman Republic and Empire

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Map of Rome during the time of the Roman Empire

According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509 BC. By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome had achieved a grandeur befitting the capital of an empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean. This grandeur increased under Caesar Augustus and his successors: If anything, the Great Fire of Rome during the reign of Nero acted as an excuse for new development.

From the early-3rd century, matters changed. Rome formally remained capital of the empire, but emperors spent less and less time there. In 330, Constantine established a second capital at Constantinople, and even the later western emperors ruled from Milan or Ravenna, not Rome. However, the Senate, while stripped of most of its political power, was still socially prestigious, and the Empire's conversion to Christianity made the Bishop of Rome (later called the Pope) the senior religious figure in the Western Empire. Also, the empire was now more open to external attack - Rome's first city walls for several hundred years were built in about 270, and even these did not stop the city being sacked first by Alaric in 410 and then by Geiseric in 455.

For more details of the civilization, history, geographical expansion, and political system born in the ancient city of Rome, see Ancient Rome.

Rome under barbarian and Byzantine rule

The fall of the Western Roman Empire made little difference to Rome. Odoacer and then the Ostrogoths continued, like the last emperors, to rule Italy from Ravenna. Meanwhile, the Senate, even though long since stripped of wider powers, continued to administer Rome itself, and the Pope usually came from a senatorial family. This situation continued until the Eastern Roman Empire, under Justinian I, captured the city in 536.

In 546, the Ostrogoths under Totila recaptured and sacked the city. The Byzantine general Belisarius recaptured Rome, but the Ostrogoths took it again in 549. Belisarius was replaced by Narses, who captured Rome from the Ostrogoths for good in 552. It was as a result of the constant war around it in the 530s and 540s that Rome at last fell into total disrepair, becoming nearly abandoned and desolate.

Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527–565) granted Rome subsidies for the maintenance of public buildings, aqueducts and bridges - though, being mostly drawn from an Italy impoverished by the recent wars, these were not always fully sufficient. He also styled himself the patron of its remaining scholars, orators, physicians and lawyers in the stated hope that in time more youths would seek for a better education. After the wars, the Senate was in theory restored, but under the supervision of a prefect and other officials appointed by and responsible to the Byzantine authorities in Ravenna.

However, the Pope was now one of the leading religious figures in the entire Byzantine Empire and effectively more powerful locally than either the remaining senators or local Byzantine officials. In practice, local power in Rome devolved to the Pope and, over the next few decades, both much of the remaining possessions of the senatorial aristocracy and the local Byzantine administration in Rome were absorbed by the Church.

The reign of Justinian's nephew and successor Justin II (reigned 565–578) would see the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin (568). By capturing the regions of Benevento, Lombardy, Piedmont, Spoleto and Tuscany, the invaders effectively restricted imperial authority to small islands of land surrounding a number of coastal cities, including Ravenna, Naples and Rome. The one inland city continuing under Byzantine control was Perugia, which provided a repeatedly threatened overland link between Rome and Ravenna. In 578 and again in 580, the Senate, in its last recorded acts, had to ask for the support of Tiberius II Constantine (reigned 578–582) against the approaching dukes, Faroald of Spoleto and Zotto of Benevento.

Maurice (reigned 582–602) added a new factor in the continuing conflict by creating an alliance with Childebert II of Austrasia (reigned 575–595). The armies of the Frankish King invaded the Lombard territories in 584, 585, 588 and 590. Rome had suffered badly from a disastrous flood of the Tiber in 589, followed by a plague in 590. The later is notable for the legend of the angel seen, while the newly-elected Pope Gregory I (term 590‑604) was passing in procession by Hadrian's Tomb, to hover over the building and to sheathe his flaming sword as a sign that the pestilence was about to cease. But the city was safe from capture at least.

Agilulf, however, the new Lombard King (reigned 591 to c. 616), managed to secure peace with Childebert, reorganized his territories and resumed activities against both Naples and Rome by 592. With the Emperor preoccupied with wars in the eastern borders and the various succeeding Exarchs unable to secure Rome from invasion, Gregory took a personal initiative of starting negotiations for a peace treaty. It was completed during the autumn of 598 and was only after recognized by Maurice. But it would last till the end of his reign.

The position of the Patriarch of Rome was further strengthened under the usurper Phocas (reigned 602–610). Phocas recognized their primacy over that of the Patriarch of Constantinople and even decreed Pope Boniface III (607) to be "the head of all the Churches".

During the 7th century century, an influx of both Byzantine officials and churchmen from elsewhere in the empire made both the local lay aristocracy and Church leadership largely Greek-speaking. However, the strong Byzantine cultural influence did not always lead to political harmony between Rome and Constantinople. In the controversy over Monothelitism, popes found themselves under severe pressure (sometimes amounting to physical force) when they failed to keep in step with Constantinople's shifting theological positions. In 653, Pope Martin I was deported to Constantinople and, after a show trial, exiled to the Crimea, where he died.

Then, in 663, Rome had its first imperial visit for two centuries, by Constans II - its worst disaster since the Gothic Wars when the emperor proceeded to strip Rome of metal, including from buildings and statues, to provide materials for armaments to use against the Saracens. However, for the next half-century, despite further tensions, Rome and the Papacy continued to prefer continued Byzantine rule - in part because the alternative was Lombard rule, and in part because Rome's food was largely coming from Papal estates elsewhere in the Empire, particularly Sicily.

However, in 727, Pope Gregory II refused to accept the decrees of Emperor Leo III, establishing iconoclasm. Leo proceeded, unsuccessfully, to impose iconoclasm on Rome by military force and then confiscated the Papal estates in Sicily and transferred areas previously ecclesiastically under the Pope but still under Byzantine control to the Patriarch of Constantinople. In effect, Rome had been expelled from the Byzantine Empire.

This left Rome reliant purely on its own local forces to protect itself against Lombard encroachment - sometimes now, indeed, encouraged by the Byzantines. Other protectors were now needed - and finally, in 753, Pope Stephen III induced Pippin the Younger, king of the Franks, to attack the Lombards on the Papacy's behalf.

In the 9th century, Pope Leo IV commisioned the construction of a wall around an area on the opposite side of the Tiber from the seven hills of Rome, which has since been called the Leonine City.

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From the Forum, the medieval and Renaissance Senate House stands directly upon the Tabularium, ancient Rome's repository of archives: Michelangelo refaced the far side

Papal and Renaissance Rome

When Pepin III defeated the Lombards in 756, Rome became the capital city of the Papal States, a territorial entity at least nominally ruled by the Papacy. In practice, however, the government of the city was hotly contested between various factions of Roman nobility, the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, and occasional republican insurrections. After the suppression of the republic of 1434 (Gibbon's "last revolt of Rome"), the Papacy folded the government of Rome into the ecclesiastical bureaucracy. During this period, Rome became the worldwide center of Christianity and increasingly developed a relevant political role that made it one of the most important towns of the Old Continent. In art, although Florence became the center of humanism and the Rinascimento (Renaissance), Rome was the center of baroque, and architecture deeply affected its central areas.

In the 16th century a central area was delimited around the Porticus Octaviae, for the creation of the famous Roman Ghetto, in which the city's Jews were forced to live.

Some of the most famous views of Rome in the 18th century were etched by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. His grand vision of classic Rome inspired many to visit the city and examine the ruins themselves.

Rome during the Italian unification

The rule of the Popes was interrupted by the short-lived Roman Republic (1798), which was built under the influence of the French Revolution.

Another Roman Republic arose in 1849, within the framework of revolutions of 1848. Two of the most influencing figures of the Italian unification, Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, fought for the short-lived republic.

The return of Pope Pius IX in Rome, with help of French troops, marked the exclusion of Rome from the unification process that embodied in the second Italian independence war and the Mille expedition, after which all the Italian peninsula, except Rome and Venetia, where unified under the House of Savoy.

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War started, and French Emperor Napoleon III could no longer protect the Papal States. Soon after, the Italian government declared war against the Papal States. The Italian army entered Rome on September 20, after a cannonade of three hours, through Porta Pia. Rome and Latium were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.

Initially the Italian government had offered to let Pope Pius IX keep the Leonine City, but the pope rejected the offer because acceptance would have been an implied endorsement of the legitimacy of the Italian kingdom's rule over his former domain. Pope Pius IX declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican, although he was not actually restrained from coming and going. Officially, the capital was not moved from Florence to Rome until early 1871.

The modern city

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Aerial picture of a part of Rome's historic centre

Today's Rome reflects the stratification of the epochs of its long history, but it also is a huge contemporary metropolis. Its vast historical center contains many areas from Ancient Rome, areas from medieval times, many palaces and artistic treasure from the Renaissance era, many fountains, churches and palaces from baroque times, as well as many examples of the Art Nouveau, Neoclassic, Modernism, Rationalism and any other artistic styles of the XIX and XX centuries (the city is in fact considered a living encyclopedia and museum of the last 3000 years of western art). The historical center is identified as within the limits of the ancient imperial walls. Some central areas were reorganised after the unification (1880–1910 - Roma Umbertina), and some important additions and adaptations made during the Fascist period, with the discussed creation of the Via dei Fori Imperiali, of theVia della Conciliazione in front of the Vatican (for the construction of which a large part of the old Borgo neighborhood was destroyed) and the founding of new quartieri (among which EUR, San Basilio, Garbatella, Cinecittà, Trullo, Quarticciolo and, on the coast, the restructuring of Ostia) and the inclusion of bordering villages (Labaro, Osteria del Curato, Quarto Miglio, Capannelle, Pisana, Torrevecchia, Ottavia, Casalotti). These expansions were needed to face the huge increase of population due to the centralisation of the Italian state.

During the Second World War Rome suffered few heavy bombings (notably at Saint Lorenz), and was declared an "open town" (film by Roberto Rossellini). Rome fell to the Allies on June 4 1944. It was the first capital of an Axis nation to fall.

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A simulated-color satellite image of Rome inside its ringroad-highway. May 2003.

After the war Rome, continued to expand due to Italy's growing state administration and industry, with the creation of new quartieri and suburbs. The current official population stands at 2.5 million; during the business day workers increase this figure to over 3.5 million. This is a dramatic increase from previous figures, which were 138,000 in 1825, 244,000 in 1871, 692,000 in 1921, 1,600,000 in 1961.

Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics, using many ancient sites such as the Villa Borghese and the Thermae of Caracalla as venues. For the Olympic Games many new structures where created, notably the new large Olympic Stadium (which was also enlarged and renewed to host qualification and the final match of the 1990 FIFA football World Cup), the Villaggio Olimpico (Olympic Village, created to host the athletes and redeveloped after the games as a residential district), etc.

Many of the monuments of Rome were restored by the Italian state and by the Vatican for the 2000 Jubilee.

Being the capital city of Italy, Rome hosts all the principal institutions of the nation, like the Presidency of the Republic, the government (and its single Ministeri), the Parliament, the main judicial Courts, and the diplomatic representatives of all the countries for the states of Italy and the Vatican City (curiously, Rome also hosts, in the Italian part of its territory, the Embassy of Italy for the Vatican City, a unique case of an Embassy within the boundaries of its own country). Many international institutions are located in Rome, notably cultural and scientific ones - such as the American Institute, the British Shool, the French Academy, the Scandinavian Institutes, the German Archaeological Institute - for the honor of scholarship in the Eternal City, and humanitarian ones, such as the FAO.

Rome today is one of the most important tourist destinations of the world, due to the incalculable immensity of its archaeological and artistic treasures, as well as for its unique traditions, the beauty of its views, and its "villas" (parks). Among the most significant resources: plenty of museums - (Musei Capitolini, the Vatican Museums, Galleria Borghese, and a great many others) - acqueducts, fountains, churches, palaces, historical buildings, the monuments and ruins of the Roman Forum, and the Catacombs.

Among its hundreds of churches, Rome contains the five Major Basilicas of the Catholic church: Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran, Rome's cathedral), Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's Basilica), Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura (St. Paul Outside the Walls), Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), and Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence Outside the Walls). The Bishop of Rome is the Pope; in his pastoral activity strictly applicable to the city, he is assisted by a vicar (usually a cardinal).

Demographics

Ever since Roman history people from all over the ancient world lived in Rome as a centre of learning, trade and commerce. Many were merchants, some were slaves, some were important officials from distant colonies. The slave population was very large, and made a massive proportion were living in the city. Many of the slaves came from all over the areas Rome conquered, from Britannia to Carthage. Today, the population is very diverse, though the Italian population is still much larger than the immigrants. The Italian population is estimated around 80%.

Administrative subdivision of Rome

Main article: Administrative subdivision of Rome.

For administrative purposes and in order to boost territorial decentralization, the large territory of Rome's municipality is officially divided in 19 sub-municipalities (Municipi, formerly called Circoscrizioni) numbered from 1 to 20 (there were originally 20 sub-municipalities, but the XIV, what is now the Comune di Fiumicino, voted some years ago to become a full municipality itself and eventually detached from Rome). The center of Rome is divided into 22 rioni (parts), in a way that is close to the division that Rome had since the Empire.

Economy

Today Rome has a dynamic and diversified economy, bent on innovation, technologies, communication and tertiary, which produces 6,5% of the national GDP (more than any other city in the country) and continues to grow at higher rates than that of the rest of Italy. Tourism is one of Rome's chief industries, but the city is also a center of the banking, publishing, insurance, fashion, high-tech, housing, cinematographic (built on the large Cinecittà studios, often called Hollywood on the Tiber) and aerospace industries.

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A Panoramic towards the EUR district from the Torrino district.

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A view of the Palalottomatica sports palace (formerly known as Palaeur) from the park around the artificial lake. Rome, EUR district.

Many international headquarters are located in Rome's principal business/office districts: the EUR (Esposizione Universale Roma), which is as well one of the most exclusive residential area in south-west of Rome (with government ministries, conference and trade centers, parks, an artificial lake, sports venues, museums, gardened villas and apartment complexes); the Torrino (further south from the EUR), the Magliana (with the new Toyota Italia headquarter), the Parco de' Medici-Laurentina area, the so-called "Tiburtina-valley" along the ancient Via Tiburtina etc.

Transportation

Rome has an intercontinental airport formally named Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport - FCO, but more commonly known as Fiumicino and the Giovan-Battista Pastine international airport (commonly referred to as Ciampino Airport), a joint civilian and military airport Southeast of the city-center, along the Via Appia, which handles mainly charter flights and regional European flights including some low-cost airlines. A third airport, called Aeroporto dell'Urbe, is located in the north of the city along the ancient Via Salaria and handles mainly helicopters and private flights. A fourth airport, called Aeroporto di Centocelle, in the eastern part of Rome between the Via Prenestina and the Via Casilina, has been abandoned for some years now, but is currently being redeveloped as one of the largest public parks in Rome.

A subway system operates in Rome called the "Metropolitana" or Rome Metro which was opened in 1955. There are 2 lines (A & B), a third (C) and a new branch of the B-line (B1) are under construction, while a fourth line (D) has been planned. The frequent archaeological findings delay underground work. Today's (2005) total length is 38 km. The two existing lines, A & B, only intersect at one point, Stazione Termini, the main train station in Rome (which also is the largest train station in Europe, underneath and around which exists now a lively shopping center known as the "Forum Termini" with more than 100 shops of various types). Other important stations includes: Tiburtina (second-largest, which is currently being redeveloped and enlarged to become the main high-speed train hub in the city), Ostiense, Trastevere, Tuscolana, S. Pietro.

The Rome Metro is part of an extensive transport network made of a tramway network, several suburban and urban lines in and around the city of Rome, plus an "express line" to Fiumicino Airport. Whereas most FR lines (Ferrovia Regionale) 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.

Rome also has a comprehensive bus system. The web site (translated in english) of the public transportation company (ATAC) allows a route to be calculated using the buses and subways. 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.

Chronic congestion caused by cars during the 1970s and '80s led to the banning of unauthorized traffic from the central part of city during workdays from 6.00 a.m to 6 p.m. (this area is officially called Zona a Traffico Limitato, Z.T.L. in short). Heavy traffic due to night-life crowds during week-ends led in recent years to the creation of other Z.T.L.s in the Trastevere and S. Lorenzo districts during the night, and to the experimentation of a new night Z.T.L. also in the city center (plans to create a night Z.T.L. 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-parkings, as new underground parkings spread throughout the city.

Education

Rome continues to be the major educational center of Italy, with many major universities that offer degrees in all fields. Amongst the prestigious educational establishments in Rome is the University of Rome La Sapienza (founded 1303), which is Europe’s biggest university with almost 150,000 students. The city is also home to three other public universities: Università degli studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, more commonly called Roma 2, University of Roma Tre and the Istituto universitario di scienze motorie;

Several private universities are as well located in Rome, as:

LUISS University (Libera università internazionale degli studi sociali), probably the most prestigious private university in Rome;
Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, a well renowned university in Italy;
John Cabot University, a private American University;
LUMSA University (Libera Universita Maria SS. Assunta);
University of Malta, an International University;
Leonardo da Vinci Libera Università di Roma;
Libera Università Degli Studi S. Pio V;
UPTER University;
I.S.S.A.S. University.

Still located in Rome are the Accademia di Santa Cecilia - the world's oldest academy of music (founded 1584), St. John's University's Rome campus which is located at the Pontificio Oratorio San Pietro, several academies of fine arts, colleges of the church, medical and Health research instituts.

Monuments and sites

Houses of worship

Basilicas

Pathriarcal basilicas

Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (Saint John Lateran)
Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's)
Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura (Saint Paul outside the Walls)
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major)

Paleochristian basilicas

Basilica di Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura (Basilica of Saint Agnes Outside the Walls)
Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (Saint Lawrence outside the Walls)
Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (Basilica of Saint Mary in Trastevere)

Other basilicas

Basilica di San Clemente (Basilica of Saint Clement)
Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem)
Basilica di San Marco (Basilica of Saint Mark)
Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels)
Basilica di Santa maria sopra Minerva (Basilica of Saint Mary over Minerva)
Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli (Basilica of Saint Peter in Vincoli)

Churches

Rome is home to over 900 churches. Here are a few of the more notable ones.

Domine Quo Vadis?, also known as "Santa Maria in Palmis"
Il Gesù
Pantheon, also known as "Santa Maria ad Martyres"
San Carlo al Corso
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
San Luigi dei Francesi
Sant'Agnese in Agone (Saint Agnes in Agone)
Sant'Andrea al Quirinale
Sant'Andrea della Valle
Sant'Ignazio
Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Santa Maria in Aracoeli
Santa Sabina

Temples

View over Rome from St. Peter's Basilica.
Rome's main Synagogue in the old Jewish Ghetto district, on the banks of the Tiber river.

Rome's main Synagogue in the old Jewish Ghetto district, on the banks of the Tiber river.
Rome's Mosque (Europe's largest) under the slopes of the Parioli district.

Rome's Mosque (Europe's largest) under the slopes of the Parioli district.

Symbols and trivia

*Senatus PopulusQue Romanus*. Great Seal of Rome's municipality

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Seal of Rome's City Police, with the seal and the she-wolf.

Rome is commonly identified by several proper symbols, including the Colosseum, the she-wolf (Lupa capitolina), the imperial eagle, and the symbols of Christianity. The famous acronym SPQR recalls the ancient age and the unity between Roman Senate and Roman people.

Rome is called "L'Urbe" (The City), "Caput mundi" (head of the world), "Città Eterna" (eternal city), and "Limen Apostolorum" (the threshold of the apostles).

The town's colors are golden yellow and red (garnet): they stand, respectively, for christian and imperial dignities.

Rome has two holidays of its own: April 21 (the founding of Rome), and June 29 (the feast of its patron saints, Peter and Paul). Other locally important dates are December 8 (the Immaculate Conception) and January 6 (Epiphany).

The Grande Raccordo Anulare (commonly shortened "Il GRA" or "Il Raccordo"), which is more than 80 km long, once encircled the city. Rome has since grown past this round motorway, with new districts well beyond it.

Some proverbs about the Eternal City:

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
All roads lead to Rome.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's.

During its long history, Rome has always had a scarcity of native inhabitants, so by tradition a "true" Roman is one whose family has lived in Rome for no less than 7 generations: this is the original "Romano de Roma" (in Romanesco, the local dialect of Italian).

For the Lega Nord, Roma is the symbol of the allegedly parasytical Italian government, crystalized in their slogan Roma ladra ("Thief Rome").

References

Spielvogel, J. (1991) Western Civilization Volume I To 1715. West Publishing Company. ISBN 0-314-82893-1
Chambers, M. et al. (1991) The Western Experience Volume I To 1715, Fifth Edition. McGraw-Hill, Inc. ISBN 0-07-010625-7
Upshur, J. et al. (1991) World History, Combined Edition. West Publishing Company. ISBN 0-314-79265-1
Webster, H. (1924) Early European History, Revised Edition. D. C. Heath and Company.
Hughes, R (1951) The Making of Today's World. Allyn and Bacon.
Tenney, M. (1967) Zondervan's Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-23560-X

External links

Ancient Rome

Christian Rome

Galleries

Satellite image of Rome at NASA's Earth Observatory
Ancient Rome, Images and Pictures
Fontanelle di Roma, including the aqueducts
A virtual travel of Rome pictures and virtual reality movies
Free Rome Pictures
Rome Photo Gallery
Photos of Rome
PhotoRoma
Vedute di Roma
Pictures of Rome
Arounder.Com (QTVR panoramas)