Not much has changed since the Rome of Caesar’s time until today: two millennia later, the Eternal City still reflects its ancient past. For tourists, it’s a journey back in time.
The harmonious mix of past and present, austere and elegant, has imbued the city with a distinctive aura. Even when it’s dark, streams of people and cars illuminate its corners and thoroughfares. The heart of Rome pulses continuously night and day, throbbing between the pubs, restaurants, discos, and cultural enclaves of every stripe that engage and enthrall millions of Romans and visitors alike.
The lights of Rome are never extinguished, and never will be, because time has made the city itself eternal.
Divided in two by the Tiber River, Rome is a deep universe of shapes and colors, styles and characters, but the face of its distant past remains unmistakable. Of millenarian origin, the city has kept intact all the features of its glorious past, a past dominated by the immensely powerful emperors who ruled over it through the centuries, and who finally dubbed it Caput Mundi: the Capital of the Empire, the capital of the ancient world. From Ireland to Africa to the Middle East, Rome was the major point of reference for the entire Mediterranean Sea basin.
More than two thousand years have passed since Octavian Augustus gave rise to the Imperial Age in 27 BC—a long period of peace, prosperity, and cultural vitality. But modern Rome has erased nothing from its past. It lives daily among the ancient symbols and fascinating historical accounts that give the city its undisputed starring role in history. You can sense its majesty just by strolling along the avenues. At times you may feel quite small in the shadow of those solemn monuments, especially when you find yourself in the middle of the historical center, in the heart of the ancient “Urbe,” or downtown.
The Imperial Age—an age of magnificence, civil growth, and territorial expansion toward the conquest of the world—contributed significantly to the transformation of Rome and to the growth of its original nucleus. It was an age of greatness and wealth. Every emperor in his turn molded the city to his own preferences and image, marbled and snow-white, like the buildings and winding stairways of the center.
Just consider for a moment the theatres and amphitheatres and their particular architecture. Consider especially the Colosseum, the most important among Roman buildings. It gives one the shivers to imagine it packed with people ready to watch the fierce and bloody battles between fighters and wild beasts. The gladiator was not always a hero, as many believe—he was often a slave or a man sentenced to death or even an adversary of the emperor. In any case, he was a man in his last fight, a man forced by power and “destiny” to face lions and hungry beasts against which he rarely stood a chance.
Bloody games aside, however, the fact remains that Imperial Rome gave birth to a new civilization. Houses grew in number and became a reflection of social stratification, as each level of society had a corresponding style of housing and living. Thus the rich patricians (of noble origin) could afford luxurious homes in the city, composed of various rooms, each dedicated to a specific use and often adorned with statues, columns, and even frescoes. And thanks to their connection to the waterworks, the houses didn’t lack for comfort: they were fitted out with toilets and thermal systems. The patricians also usually owned huge country villas surrounded by blossoming gardens where they could enjoy their summer vacations.
The rich plebeians (of common origin), on the other hand, had to content themselves with narrow rented apartments inside an “insula,” a sort of common building. These were humble dwellings, and barely livable—as only houses without plumbing can be.
Despite the splendor of the Roman aqueducts, running water was not a prerogative for everyone, though it did become so over time. Certainly the emperors had plenty of it: lounging comfortably in the gardens of their villas, amid myriad flowers and lush plants, they loved nothing more than to admire the spouting jets of the many fountains around them. They were equally dedicated to water games and the thermal spa treatments that helped them regain the energy needed to face the troubles that constantly menaced them. Romans loved to immerse themselves in tubs of this precious water, and took advantage of the situation to meet and talk about politics or business in an informal setting.
Official meetings, however, were only held in the Forum, the throbbing center of the Urbe and the ancestor of the traditional Italian piazza. As the site of both solemn functions and markets, the Forum was the center of judicial and economic activity, as well as simply a place to go for the pleasure of meeting and chatting with others. The forum complex is still visible today from the Via Sacra; one of its main extant symbols is the Foro Boario, which was once used as a livestock market.
It’s easy to see that the nuanced shades of the Roman palette are truly infinite. Every road, some that still carry their ancient names (like Via Appia Antica and Via Traiana), displays a different hue. Central streets are still paved with “sampietrini,” small cubes of porphyry laid side by side. They may not be ideal for ladies’ heels, but they are a source of real pride for the Romans.
Comfortable shoes, then, are obligatory for a visit to Rome—there’s a lot of walking to do! Lazier visitors, on the other hand, might choose to tour the picturesque streets and suggestive alleys of the Eternal City from the comfort of one of the many horse-drawn carriages. Whether you’re gazing upwards or keeping your head down, this city will astound you step after step! And if you choose the right hour of the day—when the bricks of the houses turn honey-gold in the sunlight and flocks of pigeons come home to nest on the red tiled roofs—Rome, in all its splendor, can seem like a truly magical place.
