50 Fun Facts About Rome

Rome is the capital of which Italian region?

The region's Latin name, Latium, gave its name to the Latins who helped found the city.

Which river flows through the centre of Rome?

The original settlement grew around the only natural ford in the area, beside the river's island.

Which second river crosses modern Rome before joining the main river north of the centre?

The ancient Ponte Nomentano crosses it, making five surviving Roman bridges in the city.

Rome is nicknamed the 'City of' how many hills?

The Rome of the Kings stood on the Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal and Viminal.

Which Roman poet first called the city the 'Eternal City' in the 1st century BC?

Ovid, Virgil and Livy picked the phrase up; the city is also called Caput Mundi, capital of the world.

On what date does Rome celebrate its legendary founding, the Natale di Roma?

Romulus is said to have founded the city on that day in 753 BC, the start of the 'ab urbe condita' calendar.

Which emperor briefly renamed Rome 'Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana' after himself in 192?

The name reverted after his assassination at the end of the same year.

Rome is the only place on earth where a whole country sits inside a municipality; which country?

The 1929 Lateran Treaty fixed its borders, largely along the old papal walls around St. Peter's.

Besides the Holy See, which other independent entity is based entirely within Rome?

That is why Rome is sometimes described as the capital of two states.

Roughly how far is Rome's city centre from the Tyrrhenian Sea?

The city territory still reaches the coast at the district of Ostia, which has a marina and a small fishing harbour.

Rome's lowest point, 13 m above sea level, lies at the base of which monument?

The highest point in the central city is the 139 m peak of Monte Mario.

What is the Köppen classification of Rome's climate?

Summers are hot and dry; the record high of 42.9 °C was set on 18 July 2023.

Which is the best-known large park in Rome, famous for its art galleries?

Villa Doria Pamphili, west of the Janiculum, is larger at about 1.8 square kilometres.

What was Rome's approximate population at the time of the Gothic War in the 6th century?

The city had passed a million around AD 210 before shrinking to pockets of housing among ruins and vineyards.

Which rione, next to the main railway station, is regarded as Rome's Chinatown?

Around 800 of its 1,300 commercial premises are Chinese-owned, and residents come from more than 100 countries.

Which church is the cathedral of Rome?

Built in 324, it is the seat of the Bishop of Rome; the city has around 900 churches in all.

The Palazzo Senatorio, seat of Rome's city government, stands on which hill?

It has been a town hall since 1144, the oldest in the world; the administration is nicknamed 'Campidoglio' after the hill.

Since 2013, into how many administrative municipi has Rome been divided?

They started at 20 in 1972; the historic centre is separately split into 22 non-administrative rioni.

Which palace is the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic?

It sits on the Quirinal, one of the seven hills.

The 1957 agreement signed in the city that created the EEC is known as what?

The city also hosted the signing of the proposed European Constitution in 2004 and keeps the EU treaties at the Farnesina.

Which UN agency headquartered in Rome is one of the three making up the 'Polo Romano'?

The World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development are the other two.

Since 1956 Rome has been exclusively and reciprocally twinned with which city?

The motto runs: 'Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris.'

Which luxury fashion house is headquartered in EUR's Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana?

EUR was planned for a 1942 world fair that never happened because of the war.

What is the common name of Rome's main intercontinental airport?

Officially Leonardo da Vinci International, it handled over 49 million passengers in 2024, the most in Italy.

Which port, about 62 km north-west of the city, is Rome's main harbour?

Rome's own coastal quarter has only a marina and a small channel-harbour for fishing boats.

What is the name of Rome's main railway station, used by around 400,000 travellers a day?

Metro lines A and B intersect beneath it; Tiburtina has been redeveloped as the high-speed terminus.

What is the ring road that circles central Rome at about 10 km from the Capitol?

The radial roads inside it follow the lines of ancient Roman roads, which is why traffic is so bad.

Which Rome metro line, begun in 2007, features fully automated driverless trains?

Archaeological finds kept delaying it; its first 15 stations opened in 2014 at a projected cost of €3 billion.

In which year did the first Rome metro line finally open?

Construction began in the 1930s to link the station with the planned 1942 fair site; it is now the southern part of line B.

What is the 'Sapienza', founded in 1303?

With more than 120,000 students it is the largest university in Europe; Tor Vergata and Roma Tre were founded to relieve it.

Which Roman library, opened in 1604, was Italy's first public library?

The Vatican Library, formally established in 1475, holds 75,000 codices and some 8,500 incunabula.

Who designed the Trevi Fountain, completed in 1762?

In AD 98 the city already had nine aqueducts feeding 39 monumental fountains and 591 public basins.

Which is one of the two main 'talking statues' of Rome used for anonymous satire?

Pasquino represents Menelaus; Marforio, the other main one, represents Oceanus.

How many ancient Egyptian obelisks stand in Rome?

There are also five ancient Roman obelisks; an Ethiopian one stood in the city until 2005.

Which bridge, completed in AD 135, is decorated with ten angels designed by Bernini in 1688?

Britannica calls it the finest ancient bridge remaining in Rome.

Rome's catacombs were carved outside the city through which soft volcanic rock?

Roman law forbade burials within the city limits, so at least forty catacombs ring the old boundaries.

Rome hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in which year?

The city also hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2004.

Which district, once the slaughterhouse quarter, is called the 'belly' of Rome?

Its butchers gave the city offal dishes such as coda alla vaccinara, oxtail cooked butchers' style.

Which Roman pasta dish combines pecorino romano and black pepper and nothing else?

Carbonara adds bacon and eggs to the pecorino.

Papal chef Bartolomeo Scappi's 1570 cookbook is credited with the first known picture of what?

Opera dell'arte del cucinare lists around 1,000 Renaissance recipes.

Who founded the Cinecittà film studios in 1937?

The Allies bombed the studios in WWII; later they hosted Ben Hur, Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita.

Which two Serie A clubs share the Stadio Olimpico?

Their meeting is the Derby della Capitale; Lazio dates from 1900 and Roma from 1927.

Rome hosted the finals of the FIFA World Cup in 1934 and which other year?

The Stadio Olimpico, built for the 1960 Olympics, was enlarged for the tournament.

In which year did Rome host the Summer Olympics?

Ancient sites such as the Baths of Caracalla served as venues; a bid for 2020 was later withdrawn.

Rome's ATP Masters 1000 tennis tournament, the Italian Open, is played at which venue?

It is held on clay every May.

Italian troops captured Rome in 1870 through a breach near which gate?

The French garrison had been withdrawn for the Franco-Prussian War; Pius IX declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican.

From which city was the capital of Italy moved to Rome in 1871?

Rome had been declared the capital in 1861 while still under papal control.

On what date was Rome liberated in the Second World War?

The Germans had occupied the city on the day of the Italian armistice the previous September.

Which pope called the first Jubilee in 1300, bringing millions of pilgrims to Rome?

Philip the Fair of France had him seized at Anagni soon after, and the papacy moved to Avignon in 1309.

Whose troops sacked Rome in 1527, ending the city's Renaissance golden age?

His Landsknechts struck during the War of the League of Cognac, the first plunder of the city in 500 years.