Housing Italy: Rome

The City

Rome, the Eternal City, home of popes and pickpockets, is as hectic as ever and as vital as ever to the Western world whose capital it has often been.
Through almost 3,000 years of occupation by Greeks, Goths, Gauls and the Gestapo, the sprawling city on the Tiber has persevered. Along the way it has accumulated as formidable a collection of antiquities and monuments as any city on earth: the Colosseum (now the home of cats instead of lions), the Forum, and some of the holiest sites of Christendom.
Of course, the most holy of them all is St. Peter's, the world's largest church, where Il Papa holds court for the world's population of Catholics and where an endless stream of tourists come to look up in awe at the doodles on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. (Vatican City is a nation unto itself, with its own army, postal service and currency.)
Rome is famed for its street-level attractions, from the sidewalk cafes to the Spanish Steps to the Trevi Fountain (where a coin and a wish will ensure your eventual return to the city).
Movie fans will remember the soothsaying "mouth of truth" from the film "Roman Holiday".
A less romantic landmark is Santa Maria della Concezione dei Capuccini, with rococo decorations and pyramidal stacks created solely from the bones and skulls of monks.
Rome is also the Italian nation's capital and home to countless modern enterprises and activities, including the dynamic film industry that produced Federico Fellini.
Rome's primary entertainment guide is Trovaroma, a weekly supplement in the Thursday edition of the La Repubblica newspaper.
Antique, Renaissance, Baroque--and always papal--Rome continues to enthrall visitors, as it has since time immemorial. This is where Nerone fiddled, Mark Antony praised Caesar, and Charlemagne was crowned. The wonder is that you can walk precisely where all these events occurred.
Begin by discovering the grandeur that was Rome: the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Pantheon. Then explore early Christian Rome via the Catacombs; tour the closest thing to heaven on earth for many people--the Vatican--and take in such Baroque marvels as the Piazza Navona and glorious Trevi Fountain.
Rome is a veritable Grand Canyon of culture, built from stratified layers of pagan, medieval, and modern events.
To help you catch your breath amid all of this history, Rome provides delightful ways to relax: a walk through the cobblestone alleys of Trastevere; a latte break in a café facing a timeless piazza; an hour stolen alongside a splashing fountain.
The Eternal City lives up to its name in the visitor's memory.