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"The Eternal City"

Rome Tourist Guide Living Culture  

The Eternal City

Twenty million visitors a year can't all be wrong; there is something about Rome that fascinates and attracts people, year after year, century after century. This incredible hold on the world's imagination has turned Rome into one of the most interesting and sought out tourist destinations in the world. The eternal city is a veritable open air museum, layer upon layer of history leaving its mark on thousands of monuments, ruins, museums, art works, churches and catacombs. Considering the long and impressive history that has moulded this city, the historic centre is actually quite small and easily visited within a short time. The immense amount of history and cultural legacy expressed by this small section of the city, however, takes more than a few days to settle in and be grasped in its entirety.

Rome is known as the city of the seven hills. The name is taken from the hills that made up the ancient city: the Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinal Hills. There are actually two other hills in the city, the Janiculum and Pincian Hills, but they never formed part of the ancient city and are thus not counted. Rome is also famous for its staggering number of museums, but that is not what makes the city so unique. The city's singular character stems from the fact that the entire city is a gigantic, outdoor museum in and of itself. Furthermore, art works as magnificent as Michelangelo's Moses or the Pieta adorn parish churches and basilicas, allowing visitors to admire them completely free of charge. 

A statistic claims that Rome is home to so many churches that seeing them all, at a rate of one church a day, would take more than a year. It is therefore best to take your time and carefully select the churches you wish to visit, a task that might seem rather overwhelming at first. It is therefore helpful to know that there are seven churches that have historically been the principal destinations for pilgrims. The most important of the seven are the four patriarchal basilicas (Saint Peters in the Vatican, San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore and San Paolo Fuori le Mura). The last three on the list are the churches of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and San Sebastiano. 

In the end, however, Rome is more than just a collection of world renowned monuments. There is a special atmosphere that is unmistakably Roman, a timeless charm that is palpable as you sip a cappuccino in front of the Coliseum, indulge in an ice-cream and watch the street performers in Piazza Navona, admire the sun setting behind one of the Tiber bridges, get lost amidst the labyrinthine streets of the Centro Storico or simply unwind in one of Rome's many, lush parks.

The fact that Rome has an unparalleled, historical legacy to preserve is both its greatest charm and most significant weakness. At times the weight of history hinders the city's progress. Rome struggles with the dilemma of how to build its future whilst maintaining its awe-inspiring past. With much of the public funds invested into the preservation of ancient ruins, the city's budget is often strained and unable to provide for Rome's modernisation. This duality is both a source of pride and a constant concern for most Romans. Visitors, on the other hand, are drawn to Rome precisely because the city dedicates such an enormous effort to preserving its past. No other city in the world allows you to travel back in time and contemplate such an astonishing wealth of history.

Rome has been the subject of many well-known sayings, but few are as true as this one: Roma, non basta una vita (Rome, a lifetime is not enough).