ROME THE CAPITAL OF ITALY
Rome is the capital of Italy and it’s located in the Central-West part of this country.
If you imagine to draw an almost horizontal line at the level of Rome, you can consider Italy as divided in two parts: northern and southern part, which are the two aspects, the two faces of Italy. Of them, probably the southern part is more known and famous abroad.
What about Rome? Well, we can actually consider Rome as in a class by itself. Basically more oriented towards the southern part though.
And of course Rome would be nothing without its inhabitants, the Romans, who are very peculiar.
Rome is a very big city, the largest and greatest city in Italy. Nothing compared to Paris or London, but it is huge compared to all the other cities in Italy, that are far smaller and quieter.
WHAT TO SEE WHEN VISITING ROME
Like most European capitals Rome is beautiful, with monuments everywhere and lots of things to see and things to do.
But it’s also busy, chaotic, noisy, full of traffic and people everywhere.
Another thing to know is that Rome can be considered as the Italian L.A. Not only for its wonderful weather (always sunny and extremely hot), but also because there are the headquarters of Italian television. And there is also “cinecittà”, where especially in the past lots of movies were shot.
In Rome you often have the occasion to meet important and famous people while you are walking down the street. It happens all the times!
Rome is also the centre of Italian government. And of course there’s the Pope.
It is such an event for the people coming from abroad to see the Pope, especially if they’re Roman Catholic. St.Peter’s Square, in front of St Peter’s Church, in Vatican, is always so crowded. But in Italy they’re quite used to this, and especially the Romans don’t particularly care.
This city is not only big, but also monumental and triumphal, with a glorious, ancient history never forgotten.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CITY OF ROME
The city rises up on seven hills. Some of them are higher and some of them are lower.
It is crossed by the river Tiber (Tevere, in Italian) and surrounded by what in Italy they call “GRA” (G.R.A), that stands for “Grande raccordo anulare” (Great ring road).
You’re probably wondering when it’s best to leave for Rome.
Well, as a matter of fact Rome is quite a warm city all year long. Especially in summer the heat is insane! Even in winter the city is quite warm, but certainly more rainy and colder. As Italians know very well, the best time of the year to visit Rome is October together with April. Autumn and springtime, then, when Rome’s weather is delightful.
In this section (“Visiting Rome“) we’ll focus on the main attractions and monuments of the city. Of course we won’t describe everything –which would be impossible – but we’ll talk about the most beautiful and important attractions that no tourist should forget to see while visiting Rome.
In Rome you can move by car, by taxi (which is not expensive if you consider the fares of other Italian cities), by bus or using the subway. But don’t forget that Roman traffic is always frantic and chaotic. And the subway is always full of people. So, if you are quite sporty, the best way to move in Rome is on foot. This will be our choice in the following pages of this section.
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