Rome is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — consider printing them all.

Rome, the 'Eternal City', is the capital of Italy and of the Lazio (Latium) region. It's the famed city of the Seven Hills, La Dolce Vita, the Vatican City and Three Coins in the Fountain. The Historic Center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Understand

Situated on the River Tiber, between the Apennine Mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea, the "Eternal City" was once the administrative center of the mighty Roman Empire, governing a vast region that stretched all the way from Britain to Mesopotamia. Today it remains the seat of the Italian government and home to numerous ministerial offices. The metropolitan area is home to around 3.3 million people.

The abbreviation "S.P.Q.R" is ubiquitous in Rome, short for the old democratic motto "Senatus Populusque Romanus" (Latin) or "The Senate and People of Rome" (English translation).

History

Rome's history spans over two and half thousand years, starting as a small Italian village to the center of a vast empire, to the founding of Catholicism to the capital of today's Italy. Rome's history is long and complex; below is merely a quick summary.

Rome is traditionally thought to have been founded by the mythical twins Romulus and Remus, who were abandoned as infants in the Tiber River and raised by a mother wolf before being found by a shepherd who raised them as his own sons. Rome was founded as a small village sometime in the 8th century BC surrounding Palatine Hill, where the Roman Forum is currently located. Due to the village's position at a ford on the Tiber River, Rome became a crossroads of traffic and trade.