Rome is the capital of Italy and the most populous and extensive municipality, ranking among the major European capitals by territory size. It stands in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region.
Its history spans 28 centuries. Ancient Rome contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology, and language in the Western world, and its history continues to have a major influence on the world today.
It has the highest concentration of historical and architectural assets in the world and its centre, being an expression of Western Europe's historical, artistic, and cultural heritage, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Rome was built in 753 BC and its history spans over two and a half thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire, the dominant Power in Western Europe and the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea for over seven hundred years from the 1st Century BC until the 7th Century AD. Since the 2nd Century AD, Rome has been the seat of the Papacy, and, after the end of Byzantine domination, in the 8th Century, it became the capital of the Papal States until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy and, in 1946, that of the Italian Republic. Since 1929 it is also the site of the Vatican City, an independent city-state presided over by the Pope.
After the Middle Ages, thanks to the considerable economic capacity of the papal court and ties with the great Florentine patrons, Rome became one of the major centre of Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture.