Trevi Fountain

The Close of the Roman Empire

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January 1st 2008
Wow. Rome is closed on New Years Day. It has shut down pretty much all but its heavily touristy areas and souvenir shops it seems. This fact may be an indirect result of most of the city's population staying up until 4 AM and beyond to ring in 2008. I'd want to sleep all day too if I saw the first sunrise of the new year; however, I was impressed with how clean the city was the next morning. The c ... read more

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome

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Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI establis... ... read more