Rome is the capital of the Italian Republic and the most populous and largest municipality in Italy and is among Europe’s major capitals in terms of the amount of terrain it covers. It is the city with the highest concentration of historical and architectural riches in the world. Its historical center, outlined by the enclosing Aurelian Walls, layering nearly three thousand years of antiquity, is an invaluable testimony to the European western world’s cultural, artistic, and historical legacy, and in 1980 it was, together with the Holy See’s property beyond the confines of the Vatican State as well as the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls, added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List .
Rome, the heart of Catholic Christianity, is the only city in the world to host an entire foreign state within its confines, the enclave of the Vatican City, and it is for this very reason that it is often referred to as the capital of two States. Over 16% of the world’s cultural treasures are located in Rome (70% in all of Italy).
