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1.7 - History of Rome, The Italian State


Aerial view of the city centre of Rome - http://binged.it/SmSgDS

Rome, the Eternal City, the Head of the World, is one of the cradles of "western civilisation", and a city who has lived the last two thousand and five hundred years as a major player in the political, religious and cultural domain. Each century and each event has left traces still visible in the city, its buildings and its inhabitants, creating an unique environment that can be seen in only few other places in the world.

History

This is not the place to write about the history of this city, because too many books have been written by much more competent people and because this is a website about tourism, but a short summary is necessary.

 The Italian State XIX AD. The world changes again, the Papal States who managed to resist the neopaganism of Renaissance and Neo-Classicism, the reform and the Enlightement couldn't resist to Romanticism and Nationalism. The different city states of Italy were, one after the other, occupied by the Kingdom of Sardinia (actually based in Turin, Piedmont) with the aim of creating an unified Italian State. Rome felt in 1870 and became immediately the capital of the new Kingdom, that after WWII became a Republic. In this period new residential areas were created for the functionaries of the new state and the new inhabitants coming from the different regions of the peninsula. A new series of fortifications was built (far from the city centre) along with the Termini train station and the monumental E.U.R. area characterised by its rationalistic architecture.

E.U.R, aereial view of the area
The "Square Colosseum" (Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana) in the E.U.R.

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