Rome

Rome is a city of dreams - and for Holy Year 2000 and the Millennium, she has put on her very best face. So much has already been written about her dazzling past ... Capital of the Roman Empire and seat of the papacy, Rome's star was eclipsed during the Middle Ages, only to blaze forth more brilliantly than ever at the Renaissance and during the age of Baroque. At every street corner and on the most anonymous square the visitor will discover magnificent monuments bearing witness to the city's extraordinary destiny. Unlike Venice, her ancient rival, Rome is not content to be a museum. Is this not the Eternal City? Capital of a reunified Italy, a laboratory for the megalomaniac architectural ambitions of Mussolini, Rome nonetheless retains an astonishing health and sanity. The evidence of this lies in her huge variety of streets and quarters, some teeming and hectic, others enjoying a village-like tranquillity, but each with its own unmistakable identity.