Rome is one of those places that thrive on dualism. The city’s violent and brutal past is offset by the indescribable beauties of its architecture, arts, parks, bridges and even catacombs. This “beauty and the beast” dichotomy is exactly what makes Rome so attractive.
Text and photos by Melani Semuel.
Rome’s history spans more than two and a half thousand years, and it is one of history’s most powerful and important cities. It was home to a long line of Roman emperors (some insanely bloodthirsty, some constructive), and today is the modern seat of the Italian government. Rome is the third most visited tourist destination in the European Union.
As a modern city, Rome has been the capital of a unified Italy since 1870, and most of its modern growth occurred during two periods before and after World War II. Vittorio Emmanuele II was the reigning symbol of the Italian Risorgimento, or the movement towards the unification of Italy, and on 18 February 1861, he became the first king of a united Italy, a title he held until his death in 1878. The Italians gave him the epithet “Father of the Fatherland.” His monument, aptly named “Altar of the Fatherland,” is located at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier (representing the 650,000 Italians who fell in World War I) and is one of the best-known symbols of Roman neoclassicism.
Some people might say that Rome was pre-destined to violence. The city’s very founding, according to legend, was born out of blood. Legend has it that the city was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus in 753 BC. The story goes that when Romulus and Remus decided to build the city that was to become Rome, they got into an argument, and Romulus subsequently killed his brother. He then named the city after himself: Rome. You can see a piece of this legend in the bronze sculpture “The Capitoline Wolf,” located in the Museo Nuovo in the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Campidoglio (the ancient Capitoline Hill), where it has been housed since 1473. The statue depicts Romulus and Remus suckling on the teats of the she-wolf who, according to legend, cared for them.
More realistically, archaeological evidence supports the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built in the area of the future Roman Forum. The original settlement developed into the capital of the Roman Kingdom (ruled by a succession of seven kings, according to tradition), and then the Roman Republic (from 510 BC, governed by the Senate), and finally the Roman Empire (from 27 BC, ruled by an Emperor).
