Rome is the capital of Italy and one of the world’s great historic cities. It has been an important center of civilization for over 2,000 years. Because of its long history, Rome is called the Eternal City. It is also one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Its ancient monuments and magnificent churches and palaces stand as reminders of Rome’s past glory. Gleaming new buildings are a sign of its modern-day importance.
Rome ruled the ancient Western world as the capital of the mighty Roman Empire. For hundreds of years, Rome was the supreme power of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. Ancient Rome’s influence can still be seen today in such fields as architecture, government, language, and law.
As the home of the popes, Rome also became the center of the Roman Catholic Church. During the 1500’s and 1600’s, the popes brought a new splendor to Rome. They hired great artists who gave the city beautiful buildings and priceless works of art. Today, millions of visitors come every year from all parts of the world to enjoy these masterpieces, and to see the ruins of ancient Rome.
Visitors also enjoy the colorful life of sunny Rome. They stroll through the city’s fashionable shops and open-air markets and ride in horse-drawn carriages. Like the Romans, visitors enjoy relaxing at sidewalk cafes or in the many beautiful squares. The people of Rome are friendly and proud of their city. They are happy to help strangers find their way, select the most delicious foods in restaurants, or just to chat.
The city today
Rome lies on both banks of the Tiber River in central Italy, 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city stretches over about 20 hills, but its outskirts have some wide expanses of flat ground. These hills include the famous seven hills on which ancient Rome was built—the Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and Viminal hills.
Today, the ruins of ancient buildings cover most of the Aventine, Caelian, and Palatine hills. The Palatine also has a modern public park. Crowded commercial districts spread over the Esquiline and Viminal hills. The Italian presidential palace and some of Rome’s government buildings stand on the Quirinal, the tallest of the seven hills. The streets of ancient Rome extended from the Capitoline, a center of Roman life. Today, this hill has famous art museums, the City Council building, and a square designed by Michelangelo, the great Renaissance artist.
Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome
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Piazza Navona
Throughout the city are many beautiful squares connected by busy streets. In the heart of Rome is the Piazza Colonna (Colonna Square). Banks, hotels, luxury shops, office buildings, restaurants, and theaters make it the busiest place in the city. Rome’s main street, the Via del Corso (Way of the Course), runs 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) through the Piazza Colonna and links two other squares to the north and south. The street received its name because it was used as a horse-racing course in the Middle Ages.
Vatican City, the administrative and spiritual center of the Roman Catholic Church, lies in northwestern Rome. The Vatican, as it is sometimes called, is the smallest independent country in the world. It covers only 109 acres (44 hectares), or about 1/6 square mile (0.4 square kilometer). See Vatican City .
Rome is also one of the world’s most important art centers. Actors, musicians, painters, sculptors, and writers take part in the city’s busy cultural life.
Parks and gardens.
Romans enjoy the city’s many public parks and gardens on the grounds of magnificent old villas (large estates). The villas were once owned by wealthy families. The great Villa Borghese, which was opened to the public in 1902, is the finest of these parks. Its hills, meadows, and woods seem like natural countryside. It also has a large biopark.
Many campers visit the Villa Ada, the former residence of the kings of Italy. The Villa Glori, a park honoring Italy’s war dead, is covered with pine trees. The Villa Sciarra has famous fountains and rare plants. Gardens on top of the Janiculum Hill are especially popular with children.
Music and theater.
The National Academy of St. Cecilia has one of Rome’s leading symphony orchestras. Rome’s orchestras also include the Rome Philharmonic and the Radiotelevisione Italiana. The world’s oldest academies of music are in Rome.
Romans, like most Italians, enjoy opera. The Opera House offers performances from December to June. In July and August, operas are presented in an outdoor setting. Rome’s many theaters offer plays and musical comedies, including productions from other countries.
Museums and art galleries.
Countless visitors come to see Rome’s priceless art collections. Many of the finest paintings and statues are displayed in the Vatican Palace. They include masterpieces by such famous artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Some of Michelangelo’s greatest paintings decorate the ceiling and front wall of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.
The oldest art collection in Rome, begun in 1471, is in the Capitoline Museum. It includes many fine sculptures of ancient Rome. The National Museum of the Villa Giulia has a collection of art from central Italy dating from pre-Roman times. Greek and Roman sculptures and other articles from ancient civilizations are exhibited in the National Roman Museum. The Borghese Collection in the Villa Borghese includes works of art by almost every master of the Renaissance. The National Gallery of Modern Art contains masterpieces that are chiefly of the 1800’s and 1900’s.
Churches, palaces, and fountains.
Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is Europe’s largest Christian church. It is an outstanding example of Renaissance architecture. Michelangelo helped design the church during the 1500’s. Many famous art masterpieces can be seen inside it (see Saint Peter’s Basilica ). Other well-known churches of Rome also date from the Renaissance, as well as from earlier and later periods.
The most famous of Rome’s many palaces is the Venezia Palace, built during the mid-1400’s. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini established his office there in the Fascist period of the 1920’s and 1930’s. The palace now houses an art museum. The Madama Palace, once owned by the powerful Medici family, has been the seat of the Italian Senate since 1871. The Quirinal Palace is the Italian president’s official residence. It was the home of popes until 1870 and of kings of Italy from 1871 until 1946.
Rome has many magnificent fountains that are considered great works of art. The Trevi Fountain, which was completed in 1762, is the most popular with visitors from other countries. A legend says that visitors who throw coins into this fountain will someday return to the city. Loading the player...
Trevi Fountain in Rome
Schools.
Sapienza University of Rome, founded in 1303, is the city’s oldest university. Various religious societies of the Roman Catholic Church operate a number of schools in Vatican City. There, students from many countries attend seminaries to become priests, or take university graduate studies. Some seminaries have been established for students from one country only. For example, the Pontifical North American College has graduated thousands of priests from the United States since it was founded in 1859.
Roman children must attend school between the ages of 6 and 14, which takes them through junior high school. They may also attend public schools at the next level of education. These schools include senior high schools and schools of fine arts, teacher training, and technical job training. Students pay small fees to attend all these higher-level schools. A number of private schools are operated by religious groups.
The Vatican Library, established in the 1400’s, is one of the most important libraries in the world. The library owns many old Latin manuscripts. Other libraries in the city are operated by Roman Catholic orders.
Sports.
Soccer is the most popular sport in Rome, as it is throughout Italy. Huge crowds attend club and international soccer matches held in the Olympic Stadium. Horse shows are performed in the Piazza di Siena (Siena Square) and the Capannelle and Tor di Valle Hippodromes. Other popular sports include basketball, boxing, and tennis.
Economy.
Rome is not a heavily industrialized city. Most Romans earn their living through jobs related to commerce and government. Many Romans work in restaurants and in the building trades. Tourism also provides a large part of the city’s income. Only about a fifth of the workers in Rome are employed in industry. The city’s factories produce clothing and textiles, processed foods, and other products. Most of the factories in Rome are in the northwestern part of the city.
Motion-picture production is an important part of Rome’s economy. The city is one of the film capitals of the world. Motion-picture companies of Italy and other countries have produced many famous films in Rome’s studios and streets.
Rome is a major transportation center of Italy. Railways and roads connect Rome with cities in most parts of the country. Airlines link the city with the rest of Italy and other parts of the world. Rome’s central railroad station is one of the largest and most beautiful stations in the world. The Metropolitana, Rome’s subway system, connects the railroad station to other parts of the city. Buses, streetcars, taxis, and trolleys also serve Rome. Beginning in 1973, all private vehicles were banned from part of the ancient section of the city to reduce traffic jams and air and noise pollution.
Rome has many daily newspapers, of which the most important are Il Messaggero (The Messenger), Il Tempo (The Time), and La Repubblica (The Republic). The Vatican publishes the semiofficial newspaper of the Roman Catholic Church, L’Osservatore Romano (The Roman Observer). Many other specialized newspapers are published in Rome, including Corriere dello Sport (Sport Courier). Some papers are official dailies of political parties, such as Avanti! (Forward!) of the Socialist Party. Still other papers support a political view without having ties to a particular party, such as the left-wing Il Manifesto (The Manifest). Italy’s radio and television system, Radiotelevisione Italiana, has its headquarters in Rome.
Government.
Rome is governed by an elected mayor and an elected city council. The city is divided into about 20 districts called municipi.
The ancient city
Remains of the splendors of ancient Rome may be seen throughout the city, especially in an area east of the Tiber River. Since the 1800’s, the Italian government has cleared the main sites of the ruins and surrounded them with trees and gardens. Thousands of tourists visit these attractions yearly.
Loading the player...Roman ruins
Forums.
The centers of ancient Roman life were open marketplaces called forums, where public meetings were held. The Roman Forum, the most important one, was the center of Roman government. Many important buildings and monuments stood there. Ruins in the Roman Forum include the Curia (Senate House), the triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus, the Temple of Saturn, and the Basilica Julia, an assembly hall.
Loading the player...Forum in Rome
Most streets of ancient Rome were narrow and crooked, but a few were wide and beautiful, with high arches and white marble buildings. The chief street, the Via Sacra (Sacred Way), crossed the Roman Forum. Victorious emperors and generals returning from war paraded over its lava pavement. See Forum, Roman .
Many Roman rulers built forums of their own. The ruins of five of these forums still stand—those of Augustus, Julius Caesar, Nerva, Trajan, and Vespasian. Trajan’s Forum is the finest. Most of its buildings, including the Basilica Ulpia and the Temple of Trajan, are in ruins. But Trajan’s Column, 100 feet (30 meters) tall, is almost whole. It has carvings of scenes from Trajan’s wars. Nearby stand the Markets of Trajan, a large semicircle of three-storied shops. One of the shops has been rebuilt to show how it looked in ancient times. See Trajan .
The Colosseum,
dedicated in A.D. 80, is one of the chief landmarks of Rome. In this huge, half-ruined amphitheater, Romans watched trained fighters called gladiators battle each other or fight wild animals. The audiences also saw persecuted Christians killed by lions. See Colosseum .
Baths.
Only wealthy Romans could afford to own private baths, but the city had many public ones. During the time of the emperors, the public baths became luxurious meeting places. They looked like great square-shaped swimming pools, and were surrounded by gardens, columned marble porches, and libraries. The bath buildings had facilities for warm and cold baths, steam baths, and massages.
The most splendid remains of baths are those of Caracalla and of Diocletian. The Baths of Caracalla, which date from the early A.D. 200’s, are especially impressive. They were decorated with precious marble, statues, and mosaics (pictures formed of bits of colored glass, stone, or wood). Few of these decorations remain. But many tourists continue to visit the ruins each year for their history and architecture. The Baths of Diocletian, completed in the early A.D. 300’s, were the largest of all Roman baths. They could serve 3,000 people at a time. Most of the site has been built over, but some rooms can still be seen.
The catacombs
were systems of underground passages and rooms used as Christian burial places and chapels. The early Christians dug them from the A.D. 100’s to the early 400’s, and hid there during periods of persecution. The catacombs are decorated with paintings on walls and ceilings, and Christian symbols. The most famous catacombs include those of San Callisto, San Sebastiano, and Sant’ Agnese. See Catacombs .
Other remains.
The Pantheon is the best preserved of all the remains of ancient Rome. The Romans built it as a temple in honor of all their gods (see Pantheon ). The triple Arch of Constantine, built about A.D. 315, also is well preserved. It includes three connected arches, side by side, richly decorated with sculpture. Loading the player...
Pantheon
The ruins of the Domus Aurea (Golden House) are in a popular public park. This building was the palace of Emperor Nero. The ruins, which lie mainly underground, occupy a large area. Paintings cover some of the walls. The well-preserved Column of Marcus Aurelius, built during the A.D. 100’s, honors Roman victories in battle. It has carvings of war scenes. Stairs inside the hollow marble column lead to the top, where a statue of Saint Paul has stood since 1589.
The Mausoleum of Augustus, begun about 28 B.C., is the tomb of Augustus and the principal members of his family. Augustus, the first Roman emperor, built the nearby Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) after establishing the Pax Romana (Roman Peace), which lasted 200 years. These buildings stood on the Campus Martius (Field of Mars), which had been used for military training. During the A.D. 200’s, invaders from the north and the east attacked the empire, and Rome built the Aurelian Wall and other walls for defense. Many parts of these walls are still standing.
History
Early days.
A legend says that Rome was founded by twin brothers in 753 B.C. For an account of this story, see Romulus and Remus . Rome expanded and became the supreme power of the Western world. For the history of Rome through the fall of the West Roman Empire in A.D. 476, see Rome, Ancient (History) .
After Rome fell to Germanic tribes, most of the once-splendid city became an unhealthful area of marshes. In the mid-500’s, Emperor Justinian I of the Byzantine Empire drove the Ostrogoths from Rome. He reestablished Roman rule of the city as a Byzantine territory, but the decay of Rome continued. See Byzantine Empire .
The Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Rome had far-reaching importance as the official center of the Christian Church. During the 700’s, the popes greatly increased their political power. When invading Lombards threatened Rome, Pope Stephen II asked for help from Pepin the Short, king of the Franks. Pepin saved Rome twice and gave the city and nearby lands to the pope in 756. Pepin’s son Charlemagne later expanded these Papal States, as they were called. See Papal States ; Pepin the Short .
For hundreds of years after the 800’s, Rome was torn by struggles among kings and princes. Various European rulers tried to control the powerful popes, especially by influencing papal elections. In 1305, through the efforts of King Philip IV of France, a French archbishop was elected pope. The new pope, Clement V, moved his court to Avignon, France. It was returned to Rome in 1377. See Pope (The troubles of the papacy) .
During this period, Cola di Rienzo, an Italian patriot, rebelled against the nobles. He established a popular republic in 1347. But Cola soon became cruel and greedy for power and was later killed in a riot.
Rome became one of the most splendid cities of the Renaissance. In 1527, raiding German and Spanish troops destroyed or stole many of the city’s treasures and killed thousands of Romans. Soon afterward, the job of rebuilding Rome began. During the rest of the 1500’s and the 1600’s, the popes built hundreds of magnificent structures. They appointed the finest painters and sculptors, including Michelangelo, to design and decorate the buildings. Loading the player...
Spanish Steps in Rome
Under Napoleon.
In 1798, after Napoleon conquered the Italian Peninsula, the victorious French troops entered Rome. Napoleon ended the pope’s political power in 1809. He made the Papal States a part of his empire. Napoleon also declared Rome to be the second city of his empire, after Paris. Pope Pius VII fought these changes, and Napoleon jailed him. After Napoleon’s defeat, most of the Papal States were returned to the pope in 1815.
Republic of Rome.
During the early 1800’s, movements for unity and freedom from foreign rule swept the Italian peninsula. But the popes opposed these movements. In 1848, revolutionists made Rome a republic, and Pope Pius IX fled the city. French troops captured Rome in 1849 and restored the pope to power the next year.
Italy’s capital.
In 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II became king of a united Italy, Rome was not yet a part of the new kingdom. Italian volunteers tried to take Rome in 1867, but French defenders stopped them. In 1870, after the French had left, Victor Emmanuel entered the city almost without bloodshed. He ended the pope’s political power and made Rome his capital in 1871. In protest, Pius IX shut himself up in the Vatican and refused to deal with the government. Succeeding popes followed the same policy until 1929. That year, by treaty, Vatican City became an independent state, and Roman Catholic Church officials recognized Rome as Italy’s capital. Loading the player...
Altar of the Nation in Rome
Period of construction.
The 1900’s were a period of widespread construction in Rome. New buildings and roads were built, and the city restored many ancient buildings. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini promoted much poorly planned construction. It has led to severe traffic jams and other city problems today. Mussolini completed a new University of Rome campus in 1935 and began work on a huge central railroad station in 1938. But construction was halted by World War II (1939-1945). Rome suffered little damage during the war. Neither side wanted to endanger the life of Pope Pius XII, who was in Vatican City. The central railroad station was completed in 1950 according to improved new plans.
In 1938, Mussolini began building the Esposizione Universale di Roma (Universal Exhibition of Rome, or EUR). This world’s fair was to have opened in 1942, and plans called for its buildings to form a government center later. The construction was interrupted by the war, and was resumed in 1951. This E.U.R. project included government and private office buildings, and apartments, museums, and restaurants. In 1955, Rome’s subway linked the 1,075-acre (435-hectare) EUR with the new railroad station. Some of the 1960 Summer Olympic Games were held near the EUR in the city’s new Sports Palace. The EUR was completed in 1976. Many large companies and government agencies operate there.
Recent developments.
In the mid-1990’s, Rome began another ambitious program of restoration and construction. New projects included the Auditorium Parco della Musica, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. Some projects undertaken in the late 1990’s to accommodate millennial celebrations stirred controversy because they threatened historic sites.
