- Italian:
- Roma
Rome
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What is Rome?
Rome is the capital city of Italy, situated on the Tiber River, about 15 miles (24 km) from the Tyrrhenian Sea. It stands as a memorial to the creative imagination of the past, a religious center, and a political capital. Rome cannot be called an industrial city, though it has a fair amount of medium and light industries. Rome is a major cultural, shopping, and entertainment center, attracting tens of millions of Italians and foreigners each year.
The larger historical period spanning from the output of ancient Greek author Homer in the 8th century BCE to the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th century CE is known as "Classical antiquity".
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Where is Rome located in Italy?
Rome, the capital of Italy, is located in the country's central portion on the Italian Peninsula. The city is in the Lazio regione and also the Roma provincia. Rome is situated on the Tiber River, approximately 15 miles (24 km) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Rome is a political capital, religious center, and a memorial to creative imagination.
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Why is Rome important for the country of Italy?
Rome holds significant importance for Italy due to its historical, political, and cultural influence. It became the capital of a unified Italy in 1870, marking the end of the Papal States' temporal power. Today, Rome is home to the Italian government's main offices and is a symbol of the country's political life.
As the former heart of the Roman Empire, Rome has been a fountainhead of law, culture, and building throughout Europe. The city attracts millions of tourists each year, contributing significantly to Italy's economy. Rome also hosts significant international events, such as the signing of the Treaties of Rome, which established institutions that evolved into the European Union.
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What are some famous historical sites found in Rome?
Rome, Italy, boasts numerous historical sites. The Colosseum is the largest amphitheater from the Roman Empire, built for the Flavian emperors and used for gladiatorial contests and wild beast hunts. The Roman Forum was the center of ancient Rome, surrounded by public buildings, temples, and monuments. The Pantheon, initially a classical temple, was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian between 118 and 128 CE as a circular building with a concrete dome. The Palazzo dei Conservatori on Capitoline Hill was remodeled by Michelangelo in the 16th century.
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What role did Rome play in ancient history?
Ancient Rome, initially a small town, grew into a vast empire that embraced England, continental Europe, most of Asia west of the Euphrates, and northern Africa. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans excelled in military, political, and social institutions.
The Romans possessed a powerful army and were gifted in law, government, city planning, and statecraft, adopting contributions from other ancient peoples, most notably the Greeks. Roman law was a complex body of precedents codified in the 6th century. Their roads facilitated transportation, and city planners achieved hygiene standards with plumbing and aqueducts.
The legacy of Rome includes the Romance languages, the Western alphabet, and the Gregorian calendar.
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How has Rome's history influenced Italy and the world today?
Rome's history has significantly influenced Italy and the world through its contributions to law, language, engineering, and political thought.
Influence on Italy
As a nation, Italy was created through the political rule and spread of the Latin language, uniting different nationalities. Modern Italian cuisine also reflects Rome's legacy, blending Etruscan, Greek, and Saracen culinary traditions.
Influence on the World
The Roman Empire spread Roman culture, including the Latin language, across Europe and North Africa. Roman law has formed the basis for legal codes in continental Europe and beyond. Rome's architectural innovations, such as arches and concrete construction, and engineering skills are demonstrated through its roads, aqueducts and buildings. The concept of a republic, with its assemblies and senates, has shaped modern representative democracies.
10 Britannica Sources- construction: Timber and metal construction
- Roman law
- Roman legal procedure
- Roman Empire: Legacy of Rome
- Latin language
- Italy: Daily life and social customs
- ancient Rome: Early Italy
- representative democracy: History of representative democracies
- Western architecture: Construction
- history of Europe: Romans
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News •
Rome, historic city and capital of Roma provincia (province), of Lazio regione (region), and of the country of Italy. Rome is located in the central portion of the Italian peninsula, on the Tiber River about 15 miles (24 km) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Once the capital of an ancient republic and empire whose armies and polity defined the Western world in antiquity and left seemingly indelible imprints thereafter, the spiritual and physical seat of the Roman Catholic Church, and the site of major pinnacles of artistic and intellectual achievement, Rome is the Eternal City, remaining today a political capital, a religious centre, and a memorial to the creative imagination of the past. Area city, 496 square miles (1,285 square km); province, 2,066 square miles (5,352 square km). Pop. (2011) city, 2,617,175; province, 3,997,465; (2022 est.) city, 2,761,632; province, 4,222,631.
Character of the city
For well over a millennium, Rome controlled the destiny of all civilization known to Europe, but then it fell into dissolution and disrepair. Physically mutilated, economically paralyzed, politically senile, and militarily impotent by the late Middle Ages, Rome nevertheless remained a world powerāas an idea. The force of Rome the lawgiver, teacher, and builder continued to radiate throughout Europe. Although the situation of the popes from the 6th to the 15th century was often precarious, Rome knew glory as the fountainhead of Christianity and eventually won back its power and wealth and reestablished itself as a place of beauty, a source of learning, and a capital of the arts.
Romeās contemporary history reflects the long-standing tension between the spiritual power of the papacy and the political power of the Italian state capital. Rome was the last city-state to become part of a unified Italy, and it did so only under duress, after the invasion of Italian troops in 1870. The pope took refuge in the Vatican thereafter. Rome was made the capital of Italy (not without protests from Florence, which had been the capital since 1865), and the new state filled the city with ministries and barracks. Yet the Catholic church continued to reject Italian authority until a compromise was reached with Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1929, when both Italy and Vatican City recognized the sovereignty of the other. Mussolini, meanwhile, created a cult of personality that challenged that of the pope himself, and his Fascist Party tried to re-create the glories of Romeās imperial past through a massive public works program.
Since Mussoliniās fall and the traumas of World War II, when the city was occupied by Germans, politics have continued to dominate Romeās agendaāalthough regionalism began, in the 1980s, to devolve some political power away from the capital. Lagging behind Milan and Turin economically, Rome has maintained a peripheral place within the Italian and European economies. It also has been plagued with perennial housing shortages and traffic congestion. However, the late 20th and early 21st centuries brought increased efforts to resolve Romeās infrastructural problems and to foster a Roman cultural revival.
