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Rome ( Italian and Latin Roma) is the capital city of Italy, and of its Lazio region. It is located on the lower Tiber river, near the Mediterranean Sea, at 41°50'N, 12°15'E. The Vatican City State, a sovereign enclave within Rome, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and its ruler the Pope.

The largest city in Italy, Rome has a population of 2,546,804 (2004) with 3.3 million living in the metropolitan area. The current mayor of Rome is Walter Veltroni .

The city's history extends nearly 3,000 years, during which time it has been the seat of the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire.

1 History

According to tradition, Rome was founded on April 21April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). There are 254 days remaining. Events 753 BC Romulus founds Rome ( traditional). 43 BC Mark Antony is defeated in battle by consul Hirtius in the Battle of Mutina, who i, 753 BC, by RomulusRomulus and Remus founders of Rome in Roman mythology, were the supposed sons of the god Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia. Romulus is considered the first King of Rome. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, had been forced to become a Vestal Virgin by her uncle, A, who killed his twin brother RemusRomulus and Remus founders of Rome in Roman mythology, were the supposed sons of the god Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia. Romulus is considered the first King of Rome. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, had been forced to become a Vestal Virgin by her uncle, A in the process. This date was the basis for the Roman calendarThe Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between the foundation of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. Months To begin with it was a lunar calendar containing ten months, starting at the vernal equinox, traditionally invented by Ro and the Julian calendarThe Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, taking force in 45 BC or 709 ab urbe condita''. It was chosen after consultation with the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known sinc ( Ab urbe conditaAb urbe condita ( AUC or a. is Latin for "from the founding of the city" (of Rome), supposed to have happened in 753 BC. It was one of several methods used for dating years in the Roman era, when the Roman calendar and the Julian calendar were in use.). Romulus and Remus were allegedly sons of the godThis article focuses on the concept of singular, monotheistic God . See deity, gods, or goddesses for details on divine entities in specific religions and mythologies. God is a term referring to the supreme being generally believed to be ruler or creator MarsMars was the Roman god of war and the son of Juno and a magical flower (or Zeus) and initially was the Roman god of fertility and vegetation, and protector of cattle, but later he became associated with battle. As the god of spring, when his major festiva and the priestess Rea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, king of Albalonga. The boys were abandoned to save them from the hate of Amulius, a pretender to Albalonga's throne, and taken care of by a she-wolf, even today one of the symbols of Rome. Romulus later killed Remus and became the first ruler of Rome; see founding of Rome.

The origin of the city's name is unknown, with several theories already circulating in Antiquity; the least likely and the most jingoistic is to derive it from Greek Ρώμη meaning braveness, courage; more probably the connection is with a root *rum-, "teat", with possible reference to the totem wolf (Latin lupa, a word also meaning "prostitute") that gave suck to the cognately-named twins Romulus and Remus.

For the civilisation, history, geographical expansion, and political system born in the ancient city of Rome, see Ancient Rome.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths ruled the city from their capital at Ravenna. The Eastern Roman Empire, ruled by Justinian I, captured Rome in 536. In 546, the Ostrogoths under Totila recaptured and sacked the city. The Byzantine general Belisarius recaptured Rome but the Ostrogoths took it again in 549. Belisarius was replaced by Narses, who captured Rome from the Ostrogoths for good in 552.

The reign of his nephew and successor Justin II (reigned 565– 578) would see the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin ( 568). By capturing the regions of Benevento, Lombardy, Piedmont, Spoleto and Tuscany, the invaders effectively restricted imperial authority to small islands of land surrounding Ravenna, Naples, Rome and the various port cities. In 578 and again in 580, the restored Roman Senate had to ask for the support of Tiberius II Constantine (reigned 578– 582) against the approaching dukes, Faroald of Spoleto and Zotto of Benevento.

The position of the Patriarch of Rome was further strengthened under the usurper Phocas (reigned 602– 610). Phocas recognized their primacy over that of the Patriarch of Constantinople and even decreed Pope Boniface III ( 607) to be "the head of all the Churches".

When Pepin III defeated the Lombards in 756, Rome became the capital city of the Papal States, a territorial entity at least nominally ruled by the Papacy. In practice, however, the government of the city was hotly contested between various factions of Roman nobility, the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the occasional republican insurrection until following the suppression of the republic of 1434, the Papacy folded the government of Rome into the ecclesiastical bureaucracy, where it remained until the unification of Italy under the king of Sardinia in 1870. During this period Rome became the worldwide centre of Christianity and increasingly developed a relevant political role that made it one of the most important towns of the Old Continent. In art, although Florence became the center of humanism and the Rinascimento ( Renaissance), Rome was the center of baroque, and architecture deeply affected its central areas.

In the 16th century a central area was delimited around the Porticus Octaviae, for the creation of the famous Roman Ghetto, an area which the Jews were forced to live in.

Some of the most famous views of Rome in the 18th century were etched by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. His grand vision of classic Rome inspired many to visit the city and examine the ruin s themselves.

The Roman urban form reflects the stratification of the succeeding epochs, with a wide historical center; this today contains many areas from Ancient Rome, very few areas from Quattrocento (mainly around piazza Farnese), and lots of churches and palaces from baroque times. The historical centre is identified as within the limits of ancient imperial walls. Some central areas were reorganised after the unification (1880–1910 - Roma Umbertina), and some important additions and adaptations made during the fascism, with the discussed creation of Fori Imperiali and the founding of new quartieri (among which Eur, San Basilio, Garbatella, Cinecittà and, on the coast, the restructuring of Ostia) and the inclusion of bordering villages (Labaro, Osteria del Curato, Quarto Miglio, Capannelle, Pisana, Torrevecchia, Ottavia, Casalotti). These expansions were needed to face the huge increase of population due to the centralisation of the Italian state.

During WWII Rome suffered some heavy bombings (notably at San Lorenzo fuori le Mura) and battles (Porta San Paolo, La Storta) and was considered an "open town" (as in the film by Roberto Rossellini). Rome fell to the Allies on June 4, 1944. It was the first capital of an Axis nation to fall.

After the war Rome continued to expand, mainly for a similar reason of increased number of inhabitants (this time due to the development of the state administrations and the progressive turning of general national economy from mainly agricultural to modern industrial schemes), with the creation of new quartieri and suburbs; the current estimated number of inhabitants is appr. 3,5 millions, but it has been estimated that in working time more than 5 million people are in the town. They were 138,000 in 1825, 244,000 in 1871, 692,000 in 1921, 1,600,000 in 1961.

Rome organised the 1960 Summer Olympics, using many ancient sites, such as the Villa Borghese and the Thermae of Caracalla as venues or surroundings.

Many of the monuments of Rome were restored by the Italian state and by the Vatican for the 2000 Jubilee .

The Grande Raccordo Anulare, the round motorway that surrounds most part of it, is more than 80 km long.

Being the capital city of Italy, Rome hosts all the principal institutions of the nation, like the Presidency of the Republic, the government (and its single Ministeri), the Parliament, the main judicial Courts, and the diplomatic representatives of all the countries for the states of Italy and the Vatican City (curiously, Rome also hosts, in the Italian part of its territory, the Embassy of Italy for the Vatican City, a unique case of an Embassy within the boundaries of its own country). Many international institutions are based in Rome, notably cultural and scientific ones, or humanitarian like the FAO.

See Also: Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, Roman Empire