Rome

Due to the immeasurable enormity of its historical and cultural riches, as well as the attraction of its distinct traditions, the beauty of its panoramic vistas, and the grandeur of its majestic “villas,” Rome is now one of the world’s most significant tourist sites (parks).

The various museums – Musei Capitolini, Vatican Museums, Galleria Borghese, and others devoted to modern and contemporary art – aqueducts, fountains, cathedrals, palaces, historical structures, the monuments and ruins of the Roman Forum, and the Catacombs are among the most important resources.

After London and Paris, Rome is the third most visited city in the EU, with an average of 7–10 million visitors per year, which often doubles during holy years. According to a recent survey, the Colosseum (4 million people) and the Vatican Museums (4.2 million tourists) are the 39th and 37th most visited attractions in the world, respectively.

Rome is a significant archaeological hub and one of the world’s major archaeological research centers. The city is home to a plethora of cultural and scientific facilities.

The city’s historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Rome has an enormously rich historical heritage and cosmopolitan atmosphere, with wonderful palaces, millennium-old churches and basilicas, grand romantic ruins, opulent monuments, ornate statues, and graceful fountains, making it one of Europe’s and the world’s most visited, famous, influential, and beautiful capitals. Today, Rome has a thriving nightlife scene and is considered as one of the world’s fashion capitals (some of Italy’s oldest jewelry and apparel enterprises were established in the city). With so many sights and activities, Rome definitely qualifies as a “global city.”

The climate of Rome is Mediterranean, with cold, humid winters and hot, dry summers.

It has an average yearly temperature of more than 20 °C (68 °F) during the day and less than 10 °C (50 °F) at night. The average temperature in January is 12 °C (54 °F) during the day and 3 °C (37 °F) at night. The average temperature in the hottest months – July and August – is 30 °C (86 °F) during the day and 18 °C (64 °F) at night.

The coldest months are December, January, and February, with average temperatures about 12.5 °C (54.5 °F) during the day and 3.6 °C (38.5 °F) at night. Temperatures range between 10 and 15 °C (50 and 59 °F) during the day and 3 and 5 °C (37 and 41 °F) at night, with regular colder or warmer periods. Snowfall is uncommon but not unheard of, with light snow or flurries falling practically every winter but seldom accumulating.

The average relative humidity is 75%, ranging from 72 percent in July to 77% in November. Sea temperatures range from 13 °C (55 °F) in February and March to 24 °C (75 °F) in August.

Rome is located on the Tiber River in the Lazio region of central Italy.

The ancient hamlet grew on hills that fronted a ford near Tiber Island, the only natural river ford in this region. The Aventine Hill, the Caelian Hill, the Capitoline Hill, the Esquiline Hill, the Palatine Hill, the Quirinal Hill, and the Viminal Hill formed the basis of the Kings’ Rome. Another river, the Aniene, feeds into the Tiber north of the old center and through modern Rome.

Although the city center is roughly 24 kilometers (15 miles) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea, the city area extends all the way to the coast, where the south-western district of Ostia is situated. The center area of Rome is 13 meters (43 feet) above sea level (at the Pantheon’s base) to 139 meters (456 feet) above sea level (the peak of Monte Mario). The Comune of Rome has an area of around 1,285 square kilometers (496 square miles), including several green areas.

Rome, as Italy’s capital city, houses all of the country’s major institutions, including the Presidency of the Republic, the government (and its single Ministeri), the Parliament, the main judicial Courts, and the diplomatic representatives of all countries for the states of Italy and the Vatican City (curiously, Rome also hosts, in the Italian part of its territory, the Embassy of Italy for the Vatican City, a unique case of an Embassy within the boundaries of its own country). Many international institutions, particularly cultural and scientific ones – such as the American Institute, the British School, the French Academy, the Scandinavian Institutes, and the German Archaeological Institute – for the honor of scholarship in the Eternal City, as well as Specialized United Nations Agencies, such as the FAO – are located in Rome.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Programme (WFP), NATO Defence College, and ICCROM, the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, are all headquartered in Rome. Rome, along with Berlin, Bucharest, Athens, Lisbon, Montreal, and Budapest, is now a beta+ global city, having dropped from alpha- rank in 2008.

Although Rome’s economy is characterized by the absence of heavy industry and is largely dominated by services, high-technology companies (IT, aerospace, defense, telecommunications), research, construction, and commercial activities (particularly banking), as well as the massive development of tourism, are extremely dynamic and important to its economy. Rome’s international airport, Fiumicino, is the biggest in Italy, and the city is home to the headquarters of the great majority of significant Italian corporations, as well as three of the world’s 100 largest corporations: Enel, Eni, and Telecom Italia.