General Description:
Rome (Italian: Roma) is the capital city of Italy with a population of 2.7 million residents in a municipality with an area of 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi). The urban area of the city is estimated to contain 3.46 million inhabitants. Rome is situated in the central-western part of the Italian Peninsula (or Apennine Peninsula) where the river Aniene joins the Tiber River.
Just like the rest of the country Rome predominantly has Roman Catholics. Although Rome is home to the Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica, Rome's cathedral is the Basilica of St. John Lateran, located to the south-east of the city-centre. The city itself has a total of 900 churches.
Rome is known for it’s famous landmarks such as: The Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, the Pantheon, the Quirinal Palace, Galleria Borghese, Castel Sant'Angelo (bridge of Angles).

History:
Rome’s history dates back over two and a half thousand years back, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilisation. It was the centre of the Roman Empire, which dominated Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from the 1st Century BC until the 4th Century AD. During the Second World War, the city remained relatively undamaged, keeping its Renaissance and Baroque characteristics. In the 1950’s and 1960’s Rome became a modern and fashionable city for it’s time also know as la dolce vita ("the sweet life"). There was a trend in population until the mid 1980’s raising the population to 2.8 million residents, however further on the population started a decline when people started moving to the suburbs.

Culture:
Rome is the very centre of education in Italy. The first university, La Sapienza built in 1303 is the largest in Europe and second largest worldwide, fitting 150,000 students. In the late 20th century two new public universities were built: Tor Vergata in 1982, and Roma Tre in 1992.
In 1960 Rome hosted the summer Olympic Games. Football is the most popular sport in Rome and in the rest of Italy. The 1990 FIFA World Cup was hosted on the Olympic Stadium.
Originally the inhabitants of Rome spoke Latin, which evolved into Italian during the Middle Ages. At first people spoke various different dialects among which the Tuscan dialect was the most dominant, however the residents of Rome eventually developed there own.

Climate:
Rome has a typical Mediterranean climate, which is characterized as warm to hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. The temperature in the summer on average is between 24-28 C (70-82 F), while in the winter Rome has an average temperature of 12-15 C (55-59 F).