"Every road leads to Rome" Rome by Airpunk

My 2000 trip to Italy was not my most enjoyable one - due to some private reasons. I managed to escape trouble doing a daytrip to Rome: Leaving from Pavia in the evening, arriving in Rome in the early morning and vice versa back to Pavia. I had a full day in the eternal city leaving all problems in Pavia behind - and I never thought I would enjoy this day so much!

According to the legend of Romolus and Remus, the city was founded in 753 b.c., but there have been settlings dating from 1000 b.c. It was the seed of what became one of mankind history's largest empires and, together with ancient Greece, the root of the western civilization. After the demise of the empire, the city lost much of its former glory and shrinked down to 20 000 inhabitants from over a million at the time of the big emperors Gaius Iulius Caesar and Augustus. It gained importance back after the donation of Pippin in 756 and became again one of the world's leading cities during the Renaissance. Today, it is the capital of modern Italy with over 2 500 000 inhabitants and Vatican City, an independent state within the city of Rome, is the center of the Catholic world.

• Pros:So many things to see - you just can feel history!
• Cons:Crowded like every tourist-congested city
• In a nutshell:The eternal city is a must-see!