According to legend, Rome was founded on April 21, 753 BC by the twins Romulus and Remus. Rome was once the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic (since 510 BC) and the Roman Empire (since 31 BC), the most powerful, largest and longest-lasting empire of classical Western civilisation. In the course of the centuries, the bishop of Rome rose in importance, so that the episcopal seat of Rome was occupied by the Popes and hence the centre of the Catholic Church. Rome remained the capital of the Empire until the capital was transferred to Constantinople in 330. The Western Roman Empire finally fell in 476 but Rome remained nominally part of the Byzantine Empire until the creation of the Papal States in 756. The popes ruled Rome, with varying levels success and setbacks, for more than a thousand years until it was finally conquered and made capital of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy in 1870. It witnessed the rise of Italian fascism in 1922 until it finally became the capital of the current Italian Republic in 1946. It is one of the largest cities of the European Union. The Vatican City is a sovereign enclave within the city territory.
Rome was one of the major European cities that escaped relatively unscathed during World War II. Rome, whose city centre is a UNESCO world heritage site[2], has some of the world's best known works of art and monuments, is also called "la Città Eterna" (the Eternal City), "l'Urbe"[3] (Latin for "the City" as an antonomasia) and "la città dei sette colli" ("the city of the seven hills").
