Rome

As someone who’s never visited Rome, I’d have to admit that all my experience and knowledge comes off the online and virtual world. Books, tv shows and movies have, from the very beginning, given Rome a spotlight in their stories and episodes and emphasized it’s ornamental and exquisite appearance. It’s impossible for someone to hear the word ‘Rome’ and not be able to visualize a vivid image of the scenic architecture or at the least, recall a historic time of gladiators and the colosseum, that the city is known for and that media has put in great effort to depict.

Rome is the capital of Italy; whose population lies approximately 3 million. It is a major and immensely inhabited part of Italy, comprising the greatest number of communities and cultures. It’s situated in the central-western part of the Italian Peninsula near the coastline of Tiber river. Rome was once called ‘The Eternal City’, as ancient Romans believed that regardless of what happened in the world, their city of Rome would always remain to stand. Travelers say that the best way to get around and soak in the city would be by foot. They say that the monuments and especially the colossal are far too splendid and captivating to only get a glimpse of them. The best parts about Rome are the way you can tell all the monuments and remains have been preserved in a way that it tends to take you back to the time of when Rome really stood tall and held justice to the words ‘glory that was Rome’

Through our history textbooks, albeit a bit boring, we learned what a powerful and engrossing time period it was to read about. Or perhaps that was just me, but either way – we’ve all read of the great empires and the emperors of Rome; who fought brave battles and built the city from dust and ruled over vast acres of land. If you’re a history buff and don’t visit this city for all its ancient glory and hidden gems, what is the point?

If I were to visit Rome, it would probably be for the famous Colosseum, the Castle Saint Angelo and- of course- the Vatican museums. Something I’ve only seen in pictures, but can almost fantasize about how grand and beguiling the actual structures would be in real life. I’ve heard that January is the coolest month and other than that it’s quite warm/hot all year round. According to most tourists, the people of Rome are friendly and there isn’t much of a language barrier. Despite Italian being the main language of the country, they’re well-versed with the English language making it easy to get by. It’s probably another reason the city is such a major tourist attraction.