General info

Rome Geography

The Italian Peninsula has a mixture of hills, plains, and mountains that alters the climate of Italy . This distinctive geography not only changes the climate but also separates Italy into different zones. The Apennine Mountains run through most of Italy. The mountains split the center of Italy into East and West Zones. These zones contrast in many ways with each other. The Eastern Zone, the lowland areas on the east side of the Apennine Mountains bordering the Adriatic Sea , is much more desolate than the western Side.

Due to the limited means of travel and communication in Ancient Rome, people lived in areas where the lay of the land was used to their advantage. The way communication was established in Ancient Italy, the network of rivers was crucial for Rome geography. The lowest available crossing was at the lowest point of the Tiber River. The first Roman bridge ever built was the Pons Sublicus, and it was built at this location. The technology at the time of building the bridge was not sophisticated enough to construct one long bridge but, conveniently, Tiber Island was halfway between the river's edge. So the builders, under the reign of Ancus Marcius, built two small bridges. One bridge led from one side to Tiber Island and one bridge led from the island to the opposite side. This location had a defensible position and plenty of fresh water, so it was inevitable that a city would prosper at this Rome geography location.

Modern Rome is located in central Italy on the Tiber (Tevere) River, 15 miles (24 kilometres) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Roman countryside, the Campagna, was one of the last areas of central Italy to be settled in antiquity.

The city of the seven hills, of treasures and tourists, and of fountains and cupolas lies mostly within the old city walls. The so-called Servian Wall, built almost certainly 12 years after the Gauls' destruction of Rome in 390 BC, enclosed most of the Esquiline and Caelian hills and all the other five. It was built into ramparts that dated from the early republic or even the late kingdom. Although Rome geography grew beyond the Servian defenses, no new wall was constructed until Aurelian began building in brick-faced concrete in AD 270. Almost 12 miles long and girdling about four square miles (10 square kilometres), this is the wall that Italian troops had to breach to claim their capital in 1870, and it is still largely intact.

The ancient walled city of Rome embraces only 4 percent of the modern municipality's 582 square miles (1,507 square kilometres) and is the smallest of the city's 12 administrative zones. The walled centre is divided into 22 rioni ("districts"), the names of most dating from classical times, while surrounding it are 35 quartieri urbani ("urban sectors") that began to be absorbed officially into the municipality after 1911. Within the city limits on the western and northwestern fringes are six large suburbi ("suburbs"), while beyond the municipal boundaries the commune of Rome about doubles the area of the city itself.

Rome geography is based on circles. About six miles out from the centre of Rome, a belt highway describes a huge circle around the capital, tying together the antique roads that led from everywhere to Rome : the Via Flaminia , Via Aurelia, Via Appia. Masses of modern apartment buildings rise in the districts outside the centre, in which the small amount of contemporary construction is inconspicuous. Street frontages and show windows are often rebuilt to keep pace with the times, and the Romans succeed in harmonizing the new, the simply old, and the antique with a talent that they have demonstrated since the first extensions of the republican Forum were made under the emperors.

Small as Rome geography may seem, the old city contains some 300 hotels and 300 pensioni, more than 200 palaces, 20 churches, eight of the city's major parks, the residence of the Italian president, the houses of Parliament, offices of city and national government, and the great historical monuments, in addition to thousands of offices, workshops, restaurants, and bars. It is there that the millions of tourists seem to descend annually.