Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy’s largest and most populous city, with 2,705,317 residents, an urban area of 3,457,690 as well as a metropolitan area of about 4 million inhabitants spread over a 5,352 km² area. It is located in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula, on the Tiber river.
Rome’s history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilisation. Even outside of the history of the Roman Empire, Rome has a significant place in the story of Christianity up to the present day as the home of the Roman Catholic Church.
As one of the few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively unscathed, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character. Rome is the third-most-visited tourist destination in the European Union, and its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
