Rome has been a seat of power, lesser and greater, for the last 3,000 years, beginning with the legend of its founding by Romulus and Remus. By legend, these two brothers were born to a princess and the god of war, Mars. When the princess's brother became jealous and set the two boys adrift in the Tiber River, hoping that they would drown, the basket instead came to rest on dry land. This was the spot where later on, in 753 B.C., Romulus and Remus founded the city of Rome. Romulus then killed Remus and named the spot after himself

By about 300 B.C. there may have been as many as 150,000 inhabitants, and this was also the time that some of the great Roman engineering inventions occurred, such as the aqueducts that brought water to the people in an efficient manner. Rome's importance and population went up and down over the years, according to whether the Catholic Church was focusing its attention there or not, and there are plenty of ruins in present day Rome that contain the stories of the great city's past.

Rome was originally built on seven hills, and these same hills now lie at the heart of a much bigger, sprawling city. At the center of the Seven Hills you can still see the remains of the Roman Forum, the place where ancient Romans came together for business and pleasure. Around 200 A.D. Rome was the center of the western world and had about one million inhabitants. But when the Roman Empire shifted its governing center to Constantinople (the present day Istanbul), Rome's political power began to steadily decline. But jump ahead to the 1300's and that is when the golden age of the Renaissance began in Italy. All over the country there was a revival in art, architecture and literature and this was when the power of the Catholic Church grew, particularly in Rome. This was also the period during which most of the Roman churches were built. Among its hundreds of churches, Rome contains the five major basilicas of the Catholic church.

Today, Rome is a huge contemporary metropolis and has a population of three and a half million people. Because of its archaeological and artistic treasures, and lots of other reasons, it is one of the most important tourist destinations of the world.