The first settlements in the region can be traced back to the early Etruscan civilization in northern Lazio.
Rome grew to rule a vast empire and, as the empire began to divide, the region became the centre of the Christian world, Artists and architects flocked to work for the popes and their families, notably in Renaissance and Baroque periods when some magnificent architectural works were created.
The legacy of this uninterrupted history can be seen all over the city and the surrounding area.

Most interesting places:
· Piazza del Campidoglio
When Emperior Charles V announced he was to visit Rome in 1536, Pope Paul III Farnese asked Michelangelo to give the Capitoline a facelift.
He redesigned the piazza, renovated the facades of its palaces and built a new staircase, the Cordonata. This gently rising ramp is now crowned with the massive statues of Castor and Pollux.

· Roman Forum
In the early republic, the Forum was a chaotic place, with food stalls and brothels as well as temples and the Senate House. By the 2nd century BC it was decided that Rome required a more salubrious centre, and the food stores were replaced by business centres and law courts.
The Forum remained the ceremonial centre of the city under the Empire, with emperors renovating old buildings and erecting new temples and monuments.

· Palatine
The Palatine, once the residence of emperors and aristocrats, is the most pleasant of Rome's ancient sites. The ruins range from the simple house in which Augustus is thought to have lived, to the Domus Flavia and Domus Augustana, the public and private wings of a luxurious palace built by Domitian.

· Piazza Navona
Rome's most beautiful Baroque piazza follows the shape of a 1st century AD stadium built by Domitian, which was used for athletic contests (Known as agones), chariot races and other sports.
Traces of the stadium are still visible below the church of Sant'Agese in Agone, which is dedicated to a virgin martyred on the site for refusing to marry a pagan.
The piazza began to take on its present appearance in the 17th century, when Pope Innocent X, whose family palazzo was on the piazza, commissioned a new church, palace and fountain.
The fountain, the Fontana dei Fiumi, is Bernini's most magnificent, with statues of the four great rivers of the world (the Nile, the Plate, the Ganges and the Danube) sitting on rocks below an obelisk. Bernini also designed the muscle bound Moor in the Fontana del Moro, though the present statue is a copy.
Until the 19th century, the piazza was flooded in August by stopping the fountain outlets.
The rich would splash around in carriages, while street urchins paddled.
Even today the piazza remains the social centre of the city.