Rome and its territory are repositories of extraordinary historical, artistic and craft traditions handed down for centuries and have attracted visitors worldwide since ancient times.
Reading the diaries of well-known personalities such as Byron, Goethe and Gogol or the narratives of unknown travellers, one can realise that many loved to venture outside the boundaries of the ‘Eternal City’ and face the adventurous discovery of the evocative and wild Roman countryside, describing, bewildered and at the same time fascinated, unusual landscapes, often desolate, but nonetheless marked by evidence of ancient splendour.
“Roman countryside: eternal harmony, with light blue shadows, merged in the steam that sweeps over everything in a symphony of shining transparencies,” said Goethe.
An area of more than 5.000 square kilometres spreads from the Tyrrhenian coast to the inland mountain systems, amongst volcanic lakes and natural areas of unparalleled beauty. Its 121 municipalities are home to an artistic and cultural heritage that bears witness to a history spanning back thousands of years: from the Great Beauty of Rome – which emperors and popes have made magnificent – to the villages and towns clinging on mountain ridges, from the UNESCO World Heritage sites to the sanctuaries rich in mystical atmospheres along the Paths of Faith that weave around the City of Rome, the metropolitan area is the faithful custodian of traditions that have remained intact over time and nowadays coexist with the profound social and economic transformations that have taken place over time and make it a unique territory.
The metropolitan city of Rome nowadays is a vibrant and cutting-edge metropolis that creates a virtuous exchange between the worlds of research and business, triggers productive innovation along with environmentally and socially responsible economic development: a metropolis looking forward to the future and aspiring to a new international projection based on the three axes of innovation, sustainability and inclusion.
