ITALY - ROME

ITALY 

Capital: Rome

Geographical size: 302 073 km²

Population: 60 782 668 (2014)

Official EU language(s): Italian

Political system: parliamentary republic

EU member state since: 1 January 1958

Currency: Euro. 

ROME

Rome is the capital of Italy and of the Lazio region. With 2.9 million residents in 1,285 km² 

PLACES TO VISIT

• Pantheon: A 2000-year-old temple (it was built between 27 BC – 14 AD), now a church, the Pantheon is the best preserved of Rome’s ancient monuments. Its cupola was the bigest cupola in the world until the 15th century (1401-1500 AD).
• Colosseum: Colosseum is Rome’s great gladiator arena and it is one of the most astonishing buildings in Rome: it has 50,000 seats! It was inaugurated in 80AD and it was originally named as the Flavian Amphitheatre. Colosseum’s games involved gladiators fighting wild animals or each other. Pollution and vibrations caused by traffic and the metro have caused serious damage at the Colosseum structure.

 MUSEUM

• Capitoline Museums: Dating to 1471, the Capitoline Museums are the world's oldest public museums. Their collection of classical sculpture is one of Italy's finest, including crowd-pleasers such as the iconic Lupa capitolina (Capitoline Wolf), a sculpture of Romulus and Remus under a wolf, and the Galata morente (Dying Gaul), a moving depiction of a dying Gaul warrior. There's also a formidable picture gallery with masterpieces by the likes of Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens and Caravaggio.
• Vatican museum:  The Vatican Museum (located inside the Vatican) has one of the world's greatest art collections,  which is displayed along 7km of halls and corridors, range from Egyptian mummies to modern paintings. The most famous part of these big museum is the Sistine Chapel. The sistine Chapel is one place everyone wants to see due to Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes (1508–1512) which represents scenes from the Creation, the story of Adam and Eve, the Fall, and the plight of Noah.

WHAT TO EAT?

• Cacio e Pepe: This pasta dish couldn’t be simpler: pecorino Romano cheese and fresh black pepper are swirled with cooking water from the pasta to make it creamy (and then, obviously, swirled with the pasta — cooked al dente, of course — itself)
• Pizza Bianca: Literally translated as ‘white pizza’, this foccacia style pizza bread can be found in all bakeries in Rome.