Italy, Rome

Rome is in the Lazio region of central Italy, at the confluence of the ... When Rome was annexed by force to the newly unified Kingdom of Italy in 1870 .

Italy and of the Lazio region, as well as the country's largest and most populous comune, with about 2.5 million residents (3.8 million considering the whole urbanised area, as represented by the Province of Rome). It is located in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula, where the river Aniene joins the Tiber. As one of the largest cities in the European Union, the Comune di Roma has a gross domestic product of €97 billion in the year 2005, equal to 6.7% of Italy's GDP — the highest proportion of GDP produced by any single Italian comune. The current Mayor of Rome is Walter Veltroni.

HISTORY OF ROME

The History of Rome spans 2,800 years of the existence of a city that grew from a small Italian village in the 9th century BC into the center of a vast civilization that dominated the Mediterranean region for centuries, but was eventually overrun by Germanic tribes, marking the beginning of the Middle Ages, and that eventually became the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and the home of a sovereign state within its walls, Vatican City. It has continued to play a major role in global politics, just as it has enormously infl [edit]
uenced the history and culture of European peoples for millennia 

LOCATION

Rome is in the Lazio region of central Italy, at the confluence of the Aniene and Tiber (Italian: Tevere) rivers. Although the city centre is about 24 kilometres inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea, the city territory currently extends to the very shore, where the south-western Ostia district is located.

CAPITAL STATUS

Rome is currently a comune, as well as the seat of the Regione Lazio (one of the twenty regions of Italy) and of the Province of Rome (one of the five provinces of the Lazio region). The current Mayor of Rome is Walter Veltroni, [6] elected in 2001 and again for a second term in 2006.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

The Religio Romana constituted the major religion of the city in antiquity. However, several other religions and imported mystery cults remained represented within its ever-expanding boundaries, including Judaism, whose presence in the city dates back from the Roman Republic and was sometimes forcibly confined to the Roman Ghetto, as well as Christianity.
In recent years, the Islamic community has grown significantly, in great part due to immigration from North African and Middle Eastern countries into the city. As a consequence of this trend, the comune promoted the building of the largest mosque in
Europe, which was designed by architect Paolo Portoghesi and inaugurated on June 21, 1995

LANGUAGE

The original language of Rome was Latin, which evolved during the Middle Ages into Italian. The latter emerged as the confluence of various regional dialects, among which the Tuscan dialect predominated, but the population of Rome also developed its own dialect, the Romanesco.

ECONOMY

Today Rome sports a dynamic and diverse economy with thriving innovation, technologies, communications and service sectors. It produces 6.7% of the national GDP (more than any other city in Italy). Rome grows +4,4% annually and continues to grow at a higher rate than any other city in the rest of the country. Rome's economic growth began to surpass that of its rivals, Naples and Milan, after World War II, although a traditional rivalry persists with Milan. Tourism is inevitably one of Rome's chief industries, with many notable museums including the Vatican Museum, the Borghese Gallery, and the Musei Capitolini. Rome is also the hub of the Italian film industry, thanks to the Cinecittà studios.