Rome, Italy

Rome, the fabled Eternal City, holds a fascination in the mind of most travelers and can reward as no other city can. Romes numerous playfu and exuberant fountains offer beautiful displays both day and night and are fed by the water-flow of Romes hundreds of miles of acqueducts. Few cities have such a long and turbulent history as has Roma. Lavished with architectural jewelry from republican to imperial to early-christian to medieval to renaissance to baroque to modern times by history's greatest artists, the queen of cities has also experienced sieges and raids that left their scars, but each time the Eternal City recovered from her injuries in glorious form.

Romas history is tightly connected to the history of Europe as a whole. Not just the Roman emperors but also medieval emperors and kings, such as Charlemagne and Otto I, regarded Rome as the true seat of power. Here their authority, through benediction by the popes, could be sanctified.

"Non basta una vita," it is said: One does not have to be an academic residing in one of Rome's many universities to declare that one life is not enough to get to know Roma. At each corner of each street there is a multitude of stories to tell, with layer upon layer of history beneath your feet. A modern school occupying a renaissance palace built on the foundations of an imperial bath complex whose mosaics and acqueduct conduits can still be seen, and a baroque church incorporating the structure of a medieval basilica built on the foundations of a republican temple are a couple of the thousands of stories, which together hardly even begin to reveal the history of this three-thousand-year-old city.

Be certain not to miss The Eternal City's Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo, some of the Roman heritage sights, such as the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Forum Romanum, a few of her world-famous churches, such as Il Gesu, S. Giovanni in Laterano and Sta. Maria Maggiore, and the Vatican with the incredibly huge St. Peter's Basilica and the unrivalled Vatican Museums. Sunrise on the Gianicolo and sunset on the Pincio, with vistas of a sea of golden domes and bell-towers, are sure to record images on the mind never to be forgotten.

Not far from Roma you can find the wonderful Ancient Ostia, the ancient port of Rome, where you can enjoy a great day walking among bath complexes, squares, temples, and lots of well-preserved stores, like the Tabernae, an ancient take-away/pub restaurant.

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