Traveling to the new world

The Roman Coliseum

Rome (pronounced /roʊm/; Italian: Roma, pronounced [ˈroma]; Latin: Roma) is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,705,317 residents, an urban area of 3,457,690 as well as a metropolitan area of 4,013,057 inhabitants spread over a 5.352 km² area. It is located in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula, on the Tiber river.

Rome's history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilization. Even outside of the history of the Roman Empire, Rome has a significant place in the story of Christianity up to the present day, for it endures as the home of the papacy. The worldwide Roman Catholic Church is administered from the Vatican City, run by the Holy See as an independent enclave and the world's smallest sovereign state.

Today, Rome is a modern, cosmopolitan city, and the third most-visited tourist destination in the European Union Due to its influence in politics, media, the arts and culture, Rome has been described as a global city. Rome's international airport, Fiumicino, is the largest in Italy and the city hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Italian companies, as well as the headquarters of three of the world's 100 largest companies: Enel, ENI, and Telecom Italia.

As one of the few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively unscathed, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character. The historic centre of Rome is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

- The Roman Coliseum -

The real name is Flavius amphitheatre but why does the whole world call it the Coliseum?

Perhaps he got the name from the enormous statue of the Emperor Nero, "the colossus" 35 metres high, which stood right next to the amphitheatre and has now been completely destroyed.

Like modern sports stadiums, the Coliseum gave spectators efficient protection from the sun thanks to its ingenious roof covering, the "Velarium". The Velarium was an enormous linen tarpaulin hung by a system of ropes, winches and wooden poles that girded the top of the outer wall. It took one hundred sailors from the Imperial fleet to move it. They moved in perfect synchrony to the beating of a drum.

After the VI century, with the Empire's decline, the Coliseum fell into disuse and its walls housed confraternities, hospitals, hermits and even a cemetery. From the Middle Ages onwards, the Coliseum has been one of Rome's and the world's greatest marvels, attracting hoards of visitors.