city guides

When in Rome

As you sip sweet wine by an ancient piazza, you'll understand why this city lives la dolce vita.

No other city in the world can match Rome for the sheer diversity of historical eras revealed by its buildings. Roman mythology says that the city was founded in the 8th century B.C. by the warrior Romulus, who gave Rome its name. And Rome still boasts hundreds of pre-Christian Roman structures standing alongside the earliest Christian churches in Europe, gray medieval fortresses, magnificent Renaissance palaces and massive Fascist-era buildings and monoliths.

But Rome's history and architectural marvels are not the city's only siren call. Rome is one of the world's culinary capitals, a destination for hundreds of thousands of religious pilgrims each year, and home of la dolce vita, the glitzy star-studded period in the 1950s and '60s that has now evolved into a style of living well, known as alla romana. Though Milan is known as Italy's business capital because of the location of the Italian Stock Exchange and most of Italy's largest banks and insurance companies, Rome is nonetheless home to many of the country's largest firms (most, like communications company Telecom Italia, utility giant Enel and flagship air carrier Alitalia, are former state monopolies).

Film studio Cinecittá—nicknamed "Hollywood on the Tiber"—is also in Rome, along with several important fashion houses, such as Valentino. If it were a country, Rome's GDP would be around €80 billion—more than any other city in Italy, and more or less the same as midsize countries like New Zealand and Hungary. And the economy is booming: Through the end of 2005, the economy had been growing at a clip of more than 4 percent per year for half a decade, faster than any other part of Italy.

Inside the Rome Guide

Explore and share travel advice on:

• Free time: Rome
• Getting around Rome
  
• Business hotels
• Restaurants

Plus: Learn important local business protocol.