Rome

Rome

The historic city of Rome is the capital of Italy. Lying on the Tiber River in the central Italian peninsula, Rome is about 24 km inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Rome was once the capital of an ancient republic and empire with armies and politics that dominated the Western world in antiquity and left an imprint that seems indelible, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, both spiritual and physical, and the site of major peaks of artistic and intellectual accomplishment. The Eternal City remains today a political capital, a religious center and a monument to the creative imagination of the past. The history of Rome spans 28 centuries. Although Roman mythology has dated the founding of Rome to around 753 BC, the place has been populated for much longer, and has been a major human settlement for nearly three millennia, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe. The early residents of the city were a mixture of Latins, Etruscans and Sabines. The city eventually became the capital of successively the Kingdom of Rome, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and is considered by many to be the first imperial city and metropolis. Today, Rome is one of the most visited cities in the world and Italy's most popular tourist destination, its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Among the most notable sites are the many museums, aqueducts, fountains, churches, palaces, historical buildings, the monuments and ruins of the Roman Forum and the Catacombs. The Colosseum and the Vatican Museum are among the most visited sites in the world.