Rome (Italian: Roma; Latin: Rōma) is the capital of Italy and the country's
largest and most populated city and comune,
with over 2.7 million residents in 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi). The city is
located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within
the Lazio region of Italy.
Rome's history spans two and a half
thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and
the Roman Empire, which was the dominant power in Western Europe and
the lands bordering the Mediterranean for over seven hundred years from the 1st
century BC until the 7th century AD. Since the 1st century AD Rome has been the
seat of the Papacy and, after the end of Byzantine domination,
in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the
capital of the Kingdom of Italy,
and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.
After the Middle Ages, Rome was ruled by popes such as Alexander VI and Leo X, who transformed the city into one of the major centers
of the Italian Renaissance, along with Florence. The
current version of St Peter's Basilica was built and theSistine Chapel was
painted by Michelangelo. Famous artists and architects, such as Bramante, Bernini and Raphael resided for some time in Rome,
contributing to its Renaissance and Baroque architecture.
Rome has been ranked by GaWC in 2010 as a beta+ world city, as
well as the 28th most important global city. In
2007, Rome was the 11th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in
Italy. The city is one of
Europe's and the world's most successful city "brands", both in terms
of reputation and assets. Its
historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and
the Colosseum are amongst the world's 50 most
visited tourist destinations (the Vatican Museums receiving
4.2 million tourists and the Colosseum receiving 4 million tourists every
year). Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is currently
bidding to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Rome is in the Lazio region
of central Italy on the Tiber river. The original settlement developed on
hills that faced onto a ford beside the Tiber island, the only natural ford of
the river in this area. The Rome of the Kings was built on seven hills: the Aventine Hill, the Caelian Hill, the Capitoline Hill, the Esquiline Hill, the Palatine Hill, the Quirinal Hill, and the Viminal Hill. Modern Rome is also crossed by
another river the Aniene which
joins the Tiber north of the historic centre.
Although the city center is about 24 kilometres (15 mi)
inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea, the
city territory extends to the shore, where the south-western district of Ostia is located. The altitude of the
central part of Rome ranges from 13 metres (43 ft) above sea level (at the base of the Pantheon) to 139 metres
(456 ft) above sea level (the peak of Monte Mario). The
Commune of Rome covers an overall area of about 1,285 square kilometres
(496 sq mi), including many green areas.
Rome enjoys a Mediterranean
climate, typical of the Mediterranean coasts of Italy. Spring and autumn are
mild to warm, and the Romansottobrate ("beautiful
October days") are known as being sunny and warm. By August, the maximum
diurnal temperature often exceeds 30
°C (86 °F). Traditionally,
many businesses were accustomed to closing during August, while Romans visited
holiday resorts. In more recent years, however, in response to growing tourism
and changing work habits, the city has been staying open for the whole summer.
The average high temperature in January is about 12.9 °C (55.2 °F), but in hot periods it
can be higher, while subzero lows are not uncommon. Snowfalls can occur in
December, January and February. Within the last four decades they have been
rare in Rome: the most recent snowfall with accumulation was in February 2010, the first since 1986 (in some
peripheral areas since 1991); between 1986 and 2010 snow fell four times,
without significant traces on the ground.
Generally – summer's season lasts about 6 months, from May to
October. Two months (April and November) are transitional, sometimes there are
temperature above 20 °C (68 °F). December, January,
February and March are the coldest months, with average temperatures (of these
four months) over 13.1 °C (55.6 °F) near the city centre (13.9 °C (57.0 °F) near sea) during the day and 3.7 °C (38.7 °F) near the city centre (4.7 °C (40.5 °F) near sea) at night. The average relative humidity is 74.8%, varying from 72% in July to
77% in November and December.
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 the charm of its unique traditions, the beauty of its panoramic views, and
the majesty of its magnificent "villas" (parks). Among the most
significant resources are the many museums – (Musei Capitolini, the Vatican
Museums, Galleria Borghese, including those dedicated to modern and
contemporary art and great many others) – aqueducts, fountains,
churches, palaces,
historical buildings, the monuments and ruins of the Roman Forum, and the Catacombs.
Rome is the 3rd most visited city in the EU, after London and Paris, and
receives an average of 7–10 million tourists a year, which sometimes
doubles on holy years. The Colosseum(4 million
tourists) and the Vatican Museums (4.2 million
tourists) are the 39th and 37th (respectively) most visited places in the
world, according to a recent study.
The
original language of Rome was Latin,
which evolved during the Middle Ages into Italian. The
latter emerged as the confluence of various regional dialects, among which the Tuscan dialect predominated, but the
population of Rome also developed its own dialect, the Romanesco.
The ancient Romanesco, used during the Middle Ages, was a southern Italian dialect, very close to the Neapolitan. The influence of the Florentine culture during the renaissance, and, above all, the immigration to Rome of many
Florentines, amongst them the two Medici Popes (Leo X and Clement VII) and their suite, caused a major shift in the
dialect, which began to resemble more the Tuscan varieties. This remained
largely confined to Rome until the 19th century, but then expanded to other
zones of Lazio (Civitavecchia, Latina), from the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the
rising population of Rome and to better transportation systems. As a
consequence, Romanesco abandoned its
traditional forms to mutate into the dialect spoken within the city, which is
more like standard Italian, although it remains distinct from the other
Romanesco-influenced local dialects of Lazio. Dialectal literature in the
traditional form Romanesco includes the works of
such authors as Giuseppe
Gioachino Belli, Trilussa,
and Cesare Pascarella. Contemporary Romanesco is mainly represented
by popular actors such as Aldo Fabrizi, Alberto Sordi, Nino Manfredi, Anna Magnani,Gigi Proietti, Enrico Montesano, and Carlo Verdone.
