That tragic beginning, however, was not of bad auspicious for the new town, which thanks to the power of its army and to the wisdom of its laws, had a resplendent destiny, probably like no other city in the world.

   At the time when the Roman Empire declined under the   shove of new populations, Rome along with the rest of Europe, came to know dull and overcast centuries, but something new and prominent happened, that took the city once again to the attention of the world. Rome turned to be the centre of Christianity, the new unifying religion, soon becoming the Holy See and therefore a spiritual and political centre of high importance.

   Starting from the first decades of the second millennium, in a general picture of the economic re-birth of Western Europe, Rome began to expand its confines again and new buildings were placed upon the old ruins and deserted areas. Pontiffs, frequently members of the most wealthy Italian families, enriched and decorated the city with new churches and monuments; and the same did the various religious orders and the citizens communities for the following centuries, desperately wishing to leave traces of his their own presence and wealth into the urban tissue of the Eternal City.

   In the centuries running from the late Middle Age to the 19th century, under the almost uninterrupted domain of catholic Popes, all major Italian artists and brilliant masters of Renaissance and Baroque gifted Rome with masterpieces and monuments which are today artistic heritage of humankind. At those times Rome became a popular destination for foreign artists and intellectuals, who lived and worked there for many years. Keats and Turner are some of the renowned names among British people who fell in love with Rome.

   In 1870, with the end of the Church temporal power (Popes power), Rome was annexed to Italy, becoming the capital of the finally united nation . The City experienced then a consequently new successful prosperous period, that peak up after the II World War so that Rome is nowadays a big modern metropolis, with the peculiarity of preserving in its territory traces of its great past and heritage: ruins of the antique Imperial Buildings (sometimes perfectly preserved: let's think of the Coliseum!), Medieval Towers, Renaissance Palazzos, Baroque Churches and the contemporary constructions, make of Rome a truly unique city.