History — From Empire to Modernity

According to legend, Romulus founded the city on April 21, 753 BC on the Palatine Hill — after he had slain his twin brother Remus. In reality, Rome grew from a collection of shepherd villages into a city that would rule the world.

Monarchy & Republic (753–27 BC)

Seven kings ruled Rome until the last — Tarquinius Superbus — was expelled in 509 BC. The Roman Republic was born: Senate, consuls, popular assemblies — a system that the founding fathers of the USA would copy 2,000 years later. In the following centuries, Rome first conquered Italy, then Carthage, Greece, Egypt, and the entire Mediterranean. The Carthaginian king Hannibal with his elephants, Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and his assassination on the Ides of March (44 BC) — all this happened here.

Empire (27 BC – 476 AD)

Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) transformed the Republic into an Empire and turned Rome from a city of bricks into a city of marble. The great emperors followed:

• Nero (54–68): (Probably) set Rome on fire and built the Domus Aurea for himself.
• Vespasian (69–79): Built the Colosseum — on the ruins of Nero's palace.
• Trajan (98–117): Expanded the empire to its maximum extent — from the Scottish Hadrian's Wall to the Persian Gulf.
• Hadrian (117–138): Built the Pantheon and the villa in Tivoli.
• Constantine (306–337): Legalized Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople.

At its peak, the Roman Empire covered 5 million km² and 70 million people — a quarter of the world's population at the time. Rome itself had over a million inhabitants — a number Europe would not reach again until the 19th century.

The Fall of Rome (476 AD)

On September 4, 476, the Germanic military leader Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman Emperor — the Western Roman Empire was history. Rome shrank from over a million to 20,000 inhabitants. The ancient monuments decayed, the Roman Forum became a pasture (Campo Vaccino), and the aqueducts collapsed.

Papal Rome (800–1500)

Christianity saved Rome: The popes made the city the center of Western Christendom. Pilgrims brought money and significance. In the Middle Ages, Rome was a smaller, poorer, but still symbolically powerful city — marked by family feuds among noble families (Orsini against Colonna) and the constant struggle between pope and emperor.

Renaissance & Baroque (1450–1700)

The Renaissance popes transformed Rome into the most magnificent city in Europe:

• Julius II (1503–1513): Began the reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica and commissioned Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel and Raphael for the Stanze.
• Sixtus V (1585–1590): Created the modern street network of Rome with straight axes between the basilicas — the streets you walk on today.
• Urban VIII (1623–1644): Promoted Bernini, who transformed Rome into the capital of the Baroque — St. Peter's Square, Fountain of the Four Rivers, Baldachin in St. Peter's Basilica.

The Sack of Rome (Sacco di Roma, 1527) by the troops of Charles V was a shock — thousands of artworks were destroyed, the city devastated. But Rome recovered and became more splendid than ever. The Baroque (17th century) was Rome's golden era: Bernini and Borromini created the fountains, churches, and squares that define the cityscape today.

Risorgimento & Capital (1861–1871)

Until 1870, Rome was the capital of the Papal States — a patchwork in central Italy under the secular rule of the popes. The Italian unification (Risorgimento) under Garibaldi and Cavour created the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 — but it was not until 1870 that Italian troops captured Rome. On September 20, 1870, the Porta Pia was breached, the pope withdrew to the Vatican (where he remains "imprisoned" to this day), and Rome became the capital of united Italy.

Fascism (1922–1943)

Mussolini marched on Rome in 1922 and made the city a stage for fascist grandiosity. He had the Via dei Fori Imperiali cut through the ancient ruins (destroying more than he uncovered), built the EUR district (a surreal-monumental neighborhood south of the center), and attempted to revive Rome's imperial grandeur — with catastrophic results. After the Allied invasion in 1943, Rome declared itself an "open city" and remained largely undamaged — a blessing not granted to many European cities.

La Dolce Vita & Present

The 1950s and 1960s were Rome's cinematic heyday: Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" (1960) depicted a city between decadence and melancholy, Audrey Hepburn rode a Vespa in "Roman Holiday" (1953), and Via Veneto became a hotspot for the international bohemian. Today, Rome is a city of contrasts: ancient ruins next to graffiti, papal splendor beside traffic chaos, high culture alongside la buona vita — and it is precisely this that makes its irresistible charm.