Line #41 UsefulNotes/Rome


1	[[quoteright:302:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Screen_shot_2011-01-16_at_3_59_32_PM_1559.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:302:The Colosseum has been there since a millennium before that car rolled off the production line. It will still be there a millennium after the last one has turned to red sand.[[note]]What do you expect, it's a [[TheAllegedCar Fiat]]![[/note]]]]
3
4	->''I found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.''
5	-->-- '''[[UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} Caesar Augustus]]'''
6
7	Also known as the Eternal City, Rome is UsefulNotes/{{Italy}}'s capital, situated in the central region of [[UsefulNotes/TheBraveRegionsOfItalia Lazio]].
8
9	Following its legendary founding by UsefulNotes/{{Romulus}} and Remus in 753 BC (in reality, the city's about 200 years older), it was the heart, soul and body of UsefulNotes/TheRomanKingdom then UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic (UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire up to a point -- [[TheArtifact towards the end]], the capital shifted to Milan and Ravenna, while the Eastern Empire, which became the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, was administered from [[UsefulNotes/{{Istanbul}} Constantinople]]). The historian Livy titled his book ''Ab Urbe Condita'' ("''From the Founding of the City''"). It was surrounded by seven hills: Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal. The words "capital" and "palace" [[TropeNamer derive from two of the hills]] and their importance to administration and expensive real estate. [[LongRunners It is one of the oldest cities in the world]], being continuously inhabited since at least 1,000 BC, and certainly the first major city of its kind, boasting a population of 1 million by First Century BCE and expanding greatly in size and scope during the height of the Empire. The river Tiber flows through the city, and owing to the Republic and later the Empire, it and other aspects of the city architecture and topography have entered PopCulturalOsmosis.
10
11	The ideas most people have about AncientGrome, i.e. the amazing architecture and large buildings, come from the era of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire. The major monuments from the UsefulNotes/{{Etruscan\|s}} era is the famous Cloaca Maxima sewage system (which the Romans were justifiably proud of even in the Ancient days), and from the Republican era, there is the Roman Forum or the ruins of it, which was largely leveled and rebuilt by UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} and from him and the later Emperors comes such monumental buildings as the Colosseum/Flavian Amphitheater (commissioned by Vespasian and completed under Titus), the Pantheon (commissioned by Hadrian), Trajan's Market (completed by UsefulNotes/{{Trajan}}), the baths of Diocletian and Caracalla, and the Pyramid of Cestius.[[note]]During Augustus' reign Rome was hit by an Egypt craze, and the high-ranking priest Gaius Cestius Epulo had his heirs build him a pyramid as a tomb on pain of losing their inheritance, later incorporated in the defensive walls and mistaken by popular belief for Remus' tomb. An unknown member of the Scipioni had the "Pyramid of Romulus" built as a family mausoleum, but this was demolished on Pope Alexander VI's orders to pave the way for a toll road[[/note]] The Tomb of Emperor Hadrian was converted by later Popes into a castle and taken as a residence in Castel Sant'Angelo, which at one point was the tallest structure in Western Europe.
12
13	As a modern city, Rome is the largest city and urban area in Italy, as well as the third-most populous city proper in UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion (after UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}} and UsefulNotes/{{Madrid}}, and just ahead of UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}). As the capital, it is the center for the Italian government and much economic activity, although Italy's industrial, financial, and design capital is in the northern city of Milan. Modern Rome, being built on, well, Ancient Rome and Medieval Rome, can be extremely difficult city to get around, and traffic is always ''terrible''. It doesn't help that [[DrivesLikeCrazy Roman drivers have a deserved reputation for insanity]]. This is often the first thing modern Romans mention to visitors, or complain about to each other. And don't think you can avoid this by taking public transit; the bus drivers are just as insane as the other drivers, and while Rome does have a Metro, it's surprisingly lacking because, again, Modern Rome is built on Ancient Rome and Medieval Rome, and that means that digging tunnels tends to go very slowly and expensively due to the tendency of serious digging in Rome to reveal some valuable artifact or other. [[UsefulNotes/VaticanCity Vatican City]] is technically a separate country within the city of Rome, as it is the last remnant of the Papal States.
14
15	Towards the end of the Empire, Rome suffered decline, with various Emperors shifting the capital (and as such much of the administration and other anteceding activities) and the center largely became Constantinople. Rome would be sacked in 410 CE and 455 CE. The former was the first Sack in nearly a thousand years (396 BCE by the Gauls led by Brennus). When the Empire fell, the city was occupied by the Ostragoths who repelled a siege by the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire under Belisarius but the campaigns and fighting between the Byzantines and the Goths, devastated the city and much of Italy. Rome would later be sacked twice, once by the Normans in 1084 and then in 1527 by the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire (right when Henry VIII was asking the besieged pope for a divorce from the Emperor's Aunt Catherine). Still UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance and the Baroque Era was to prove to be its resurgence. It became the center of art during the Cinquecento (1500), where much of the decay and dereliction from neglect and looting was repaired. It was the heart of Catholic power and the Counter-Reformation (despite a brief attempt by the French King, Philip IV, to bring UsefulNotes/ThePope to Avignon). The fall of UsefulNotes/ThePapalStates completed the Risorgimento and the founding of Italy's constitutional monarchy, which overlapped with UsefulNotes/FascistItaly until UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Rome once again became a major center of arts and nightlife during TheForties and TheFifties, becoming the center of Italy's Economic Miracle (Il Boom) attracting celebrities from across the world, with Hollywood making many of its epics at Cinecitta Studios (founded by Mussolini himself incidentally). This era was typified by films like ''Film/LaDolceVita'' and ''Film/{{LAvventura}}'' and Rome became a center of the global fashion industry (second to Milan, the same city that displaced it as the capital of the Roman Empire).
16
17	Modern depictions of Rome focus on its famous monuments from different eras of history, the spectacle of the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, [[Film/RomanHoliday people travelling on Vespas]] and its general mix of luxury, grandeur, decay and corruption which is consistent to Rome across the ancient, medieval and modern eras.
18
19
20	----
21	!!Rome in Fiction
22
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
26	* ''Manga/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'' features [[UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI not one]], [[UsefulNotes/PopeJuliusII not two]], but three future popes as main characters. A good portion of the story features them and other cardinals in Rome. But the titular [[UsefulNotes/TheBorgias Cesare Borgia]], born and raised in Rome, doesn't go back there at all during the time when the series takes place (1491-92, when he was 16 and in school in Pisa).
27	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''
28	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]''
29	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Vento Aureo]]''
30	* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''
31	* ''Anime/LoveLiveSunshine The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow''
32	* ''Manga/OneWingedMichelangelo'' shows Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti in Rome in 1500-01, when he carved Pieta. His encounters there with Creator/LeonardoDaVinci and UsefulNotes/TheBorgias are entirely fictional, however.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* ''ComicBook/{{Alix}}''.
37	* [[Franchise/{{Asterix}} Asterix and Obelix]] have ventured into the city on a number of occasions in either [[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} comic books]] or animation, usually to free someone or steal something from UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar. And [[TheCoconutEffect you'll see the Colosseum every time]], [[AnachronismStew despite]] the stories being set circa 50 BC, 130 years before it was built.
38	* ''ComicBook/TheEaglesOfRome''.
39	* ''ComicBook/{{Murena}}''.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
43	* [[Franchise/{{Asterix}} Asterix and Obelix]] have ventured in the city itself on two occasions in animated films, ''WesternAnimation/TheTwelveTasksOfAsterix'' and ''WesternAnimation/AsterixVersusCaesar''. He ends up in GladiatorGames at the ({{anachronis\|m Stew}}tic, again) Colosseum on both occasions.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
47
48	[[AC:Ancient Rome:]]
49	* ''Film/BenHur1925''
50	* ''Film/BenHur1959''
51	* ''Film/BrennusEnemyOfRome''
52	* ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}''
53	* ''Film/TheFallOfTheRomanEmpire''
54	* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''
55	* ''Film/JuliusCaesar1953''
56	* ''Film/JuliusCaesar1970''
57	* ''Film/TheRobe''
58	* ''Film/{{Spartacus}}''. The Senate scenes.
59
60	[[AC:Others:]]
61	* ''Film/TheAgonyAndTheEcstasy''
62	* ''Film/AngelsAndDemons''
63	* ''Film/BicycleThieves''
64	* ''Film/LaDolceVita''
65	* ''Film/DonCamilloMonsignor''. The films begins at the Vatican.
66	* ''Film/EightAndAHalf''
67	* ''Film/EuroTrip''
68	* ''Film/FastX''
69	* ''Film/TheFirstOmen''
70	* ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire''. Godzilla fights Scylla in the city.
71	* ''Film/TheGreatBeauty''
72	* ''Film/HoldUp'' (final scene)
73	* ''Film/HudsonHawk''
74	* ''Film/IKnewHerWell''
75	* ''Film/{{Jumper}}''
76	* ''Film/{{Leclisse}}''
77	* ''Film/TheManFromUNCLE''
78	* ''Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoning''
79	* ''Film/{{Munich}}''. One of the targets is killed in Rome.
80	* ''Film/TheNewGladiators''
81	* ''[[Film/OceansEleven Ocean's Twelve]]''
82	* ''The Pigeon That Took Rome''
83	* ''Film/{{Roma\|1972}}'', Creator/FedericoFellini's ode to the city
84	* ''Film/RomaCittaAperta''
85	* ''Film/RomanHoliday''
86	* ''Film/RoomInRome''
87	* ''Film/{{Sin\|2019}}''
88	* ''Film/{{Spectre}}''
89	* ''Film/ThreeCoinsInTheFountain''. Namely the Trevi Fountain.
90	* ''Film/ToRomeWithLove''
91	* ''Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth''
92	* ''Film/WhenInRome''
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Literature]]
96	* ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons''
97	* ''Literature/BenHur''
98	* ''Literature/MastersOfRome''
99	* ''Literature/QuoVadis''
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
103
104	[[AC:Ancient Rome:]]
105
106	* ''Series/IClaudius''.
107	* ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}''. A good part of the sixth season takes place in Rome, with young Arthur Pendragon (as Arturus) serving in the urban militia.
108	* ''Series/{{Masada}}''. A few scenes take place at the court of Emperor Vespasian.
109	* ''Series/{{Rome}}''.
110	* ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand''.
111
112	[[AC:Others:]]
113
114	* ''Series/{{Borgia}}'' tells the story of UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI and his children, starting with his ascent to the papacy.
115	* ''Series/TheBorgias'', [[DuelingWorks likewise]].
116	* ''Series/InspectorRex''. The original location was Vienna, Austria, but after Lorenzo Fabbri adopts Rex, the series is mostly situated in Rome. The song "My Name is Rex" addresses this in one of the stanzas, in which Rome is also called "Eternal City".
117	* ''Series/TheYoungPope'' and ''Series/TheNewPope''.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Music]]
121	* Music/BobDylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece", covered famously by Music/TheBand:
122	--> "Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble,\
123	Ancient footprints are everywhere.\
124	You can almost think that you're seein' double\
125	On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs."
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Theatre]]
129	* ''Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'' is set mostly in Pisa, where [[UsefulNotes/TheBorgias Cesare Borgia]], 16, is in school, but a subplot involves [[UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI his father]] and other cardinals in Rome. They meet in the Sistine Chapel, depicted as it looked before Michelangelo got to it (though the Borgias' enemy [[UsefulNotes/PopeJuliusII Giuliano della Rovere]], who would later commission those frescoes, sees them in a vision (projected on stage) after he hears of the failure of the assassination attempt he ordered on Cesare. He gets an excellent [[AntiVillain sympathetic]] VillainSong about it.)
130	* ''Theatre/{{Coriolanus}}'' follows the titular Ancient Roman general.
131	* ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' follows the assassins of the titular Ancient Roman general.
132	* ''Theatre/NineMusical'' is about an Italian film director in the 1960s.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Video Games]]
136	* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': Rome is featured in the first two games of the "Ezio Auditore Trilogy", the Animus parts of which are set during UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance.
137	** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'': The last memory of the game takes place in Rome, with Ezio Auditore making his way through the Passetto di Borgo from the Castle Sant'Angelo to the Art/SistineChapel in the Vatican to confront the FinalBoss, USefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI.
138	** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'': The game takes place almost entirely in Rome immediately after the end of ''Assassin's Creed II'', with Ezio rebuilding the city's Assassin brotherhood to its former glory to go up against the Borgias' [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade supposed tyranny]] during the UsefulNotes/ItalianWars. In the modern-day storyline, Desmond Miles and his fellow Assassins search for the Apple of Eden Ezio left behind and get to explore the ruins of the Colosseum and the Santa Maria in Aracoeli basilica to find it.
139	** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' recreates the assassination of Julius Caesar in the city.
140	[[/folder]]

Context UsefulNotes / Rome