Rome Visiting Tips, Information about Visiting Rome and Colosseum

Top Attractions you can see in Rome Visiting Tips

There are so many beauties in Rome that it is better to set yourself particular goals. The faithful can go directly to St. Peter’s Square. At the same time, visitors interested in the history of Christianity and architecture can choose between 280 churches inside the walls and kilometers of catacombs outside the City walls. The mosaics and frescoes of the first churches and basilicas are fascinating from a historical point of view. For those who particularly love the Baroque, the city offers numerous works by Bernini and Borromini. But for many, the Romanesque church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin best symbolizes the spirit of the Eternal City with its rustic appearance and beautiful bell tower. Compared to the majestic proportions of the monuments of other periods, those of the Romanesque period are more human and reassuring. This difference is explained by the state of Roman finances, which, at the end of the Middle Ages, could have been more brilliant.

The fights between the popes and the Holy Roman Empire decimated the population from one million to 30,000 inhabitants. Existing buildings were abandoned, and livestock grazed among the ruins of the Capitoline Hill and the Forum. Stones from the Colosseum and various monuments were used as building materials for other buildings. Only in the 15th century, with the popes’ return from Avignon and the Great Schism, Rome regained its splendor. Julius II, more a statesman than a man of the Church, restored the city’s finances and had it rebuilt, thanks to his military exploits. He ordered the demolition of Saint-Pierre and invited Bramante to build the new basilica. Subsequently, with the arrival of Michelangelo and Raphael at the court, Rome once again became the artistic center of the world.

Modern Rome: Urbanization and Change

Soon after, the Church faced the wave of Protestantism that devastated Catholic Europe. Charles V’s sack of Rome once again endangered the city’s finances. Still, the Counter-Reformation restored the clergy’s authority and allowed the construction of sumptuous churches to the glory of God. Sixtus V’s fiscal reforms ensured the wealth of the popes who succeeded him and that of Gian Lorenzo Bernini—two centuries passed before the city experienced a rebirth after the height of the Baroque. In 1870, the Pope had to cede his temporal powers to the House of Savoy, and Rome became the capital of united Italy. An extensive urbanization program was undertaken to house the various ministries of the new kingdom. Centralization continued under Mussolini, and Rome could still easily compete with Brussels regarding the number of its civil servants.
The population currently amounts to more than three million inhabitants. Entire streets have been built in the suburbs without respect for urban planning laws and don’t even appear on official plans. The city council, the Municipality of Rome, presides over the city’s fate on the heights of the Capitoline Hill in the Palazzo Senatorio designed by Michelangelo, and the decisions taken there prove impossible to implement. A typically Roman fact, the city’s magnificent fountains are still fed with pure spring water, transported from distant hills by aqueducts. Centuries of religious domination had made the Romans anticlerical and rebellious against authority, but they seemed resigned to this state of affairs and immutability.

Rome: City of Eternal Transformation
Visitors troubled by what they read in the newspapers about terrorism and kidnappings need not be alarmed: the vast majority of Romans are too lazy to engage in political or activist struggles. Handbag thieves pose a much more real threat, whether on scooters or motorbikes. The way Italians drive is also dangerous, but they have good reflexes and know how to avoid pedestrians ideally, except, very curiously, at pedestrian crossings. The second Metro line was finally completed after twenty years of administrative quibbles and continuous route changes to avoid damaging the city’s archaeological treasures. This subway is fast, clean, and convenient but needs to do something to relieve traffic congestion. To reach areas not served by the Metro, you will have to take buses or trams, where you will have to deal with the bad mood of other travelers, especially at lunchtime. In the afternoon, Rome will be all yours. From the Aventine or Palatine hills, you can admire, sitting in the shade, the red tile roofs and their imposing domes. When the city falls asleep under the bright sun, you will feel a hundred impressions of eternity emanating from it, and you will also forget about the traffic, which threatens the foundations and the absurd bureaucracy, paralyzing everything. Rome has resisted many other defeats and will fight for a long time. Rome Colosseum Tour