Associazione Città Italiane Patrimonio Mondiale UNESCO

Founded, according to the most reliable sources, around 753 BC, as a consequence of the fusion between several smaller clusters. The City was born. The very earliest dwellings most likely sprang up around the Palatine Hill; following land reclamation of the widespread marshes surrounding Rome, the City centre was later to be found at the Capitol, around which the Forums would later be built. Etruscan culture, predominant throughout Italy at the time, can be seen right from the very earliest layout of the town; however, with the arrival of the Republic – and later the Empire – Rome was destined to become Caput Mundi. Nowadays, the city is an enormous metropolis and an extremely important centre of modern art. But it is also the indispensable destination for anyone wishing to see and understand more about the origins of Western culture, throughout the ages, because the artistic and historical heritage of more than two thousand years of our history has been jealously guarded and preserved in Rome. Rome is the master of the world, and her modern empire extends far and wide to latitudes unknown in her earliest times. She has given life to a new understanding of the world: no longer isolated, primitive regions, but an entire social and human fabric. Patiently and courageously weaved into the threads radiating out from this unique starting point.

A grandiose impression has remained in the minds of anyone and everyone who has walked through the Imperial Forums to the Colosseum, or admired the elegant profile of the Circus Maximus, the Domus Aurea, the Mausoleum of Augustus and Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan's and Marcus Aurelius's Columns, all symbols of Rome's imperial greatness. Great works of art were still being made in Rome towards the end of the Empire and during the Middle Ages. Indeed, early Christian churches and the Cosmas mosaics left travellers and pilgrims from all over Europe completely dumbstruck. During Rome's Papal government, the Roman renaissance saw the arrival of great artists such as Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Bernini and Borromini, whose artistic output was most splendid. It was during this period that the greatest urban renewal took place, with the building of roads, fountains and basilicas. The climax was reached during Sixtus V's pontificate, and with the completion of Saint Peter's Square during the papacy of Alexander VII. Between 1700 and 1800 Rome became the final destination on the "grand tour" of the learned and wealthy from around the world, thanks to the presence of so many styles of art and architecture in one place. A few names should suffice to show the importance attributed to Rome by people such as Goethe, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Andersen and Corot.

In 1859, Rome was invaded and became the capital of a new Italy. Right from the start of the 20th century it took on the Neoclassical and Liberty styles which can be admired in the Vittoriano, Piazza del Popolo and Pincio. Now the centre of government, business and power, Rome continues to be admired for the grandiose fascination upon which the sun has still to set, and for the millenary and undying beauty of the churches, palaces and museums which house priceless works of art.