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 Car Hire & Driving in Rome, ItalyWelcome to Rome Car Hire, Italy.Lazio Region Central ItalyLying between the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea, Lazio is a varied region of volcanic lakes, mountains, ravines, vineyards and olive groves, all of which is yours to explore in your hire car. Before the rise of Rome, Lazio was populated by the Etruscans and various Italic tribes, including the Latins, after whom the Lazio region is named. Besides rich archaeological sites which you can visit in your hire car, Lazio also offers skiing and swimming and water sports in the lakes and seas, which are also great to visit on a trip in your hire car while in the Lazio region. Rome Car HireRome is the capital of the Republic of Italy and the provice of Rome, as well as Italy’s largest city. Rome lies in latitude 41deg52’N and longitude 12deg30’E, some 20km (12 miles) in your hire car from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Rome lies in the middle of the hilly Campagna di Roma on the River Tiber, one of the longest rivers. Rome itself covers an area some 9km (5.5 miles) in diameter; the commune of Rome has an area of more than 1500sq km (579 square miles), so giving plenty of area to explore in your hire car. Rome is an important centre of air, rail and road communication, so it has good road links for touring in your hire car. Rome is also a major financial and commercial city with the port of Civitavecchia 75km (47miles) north-west of Rome in your hire car, as well as being an international centre of fashion and the film industry; as you can experience on a trip to Rome in your hire car. Rome’s industries, established mainly to the east and south of the city, consist of engineering, printing and publishing, chemicals, the manufacture of telephones, textiles and foodstuffs. Rome’s numerous cultural institutions enjoy an international reputation. Among the many educational and research establishments run by the Italian state are the two state universities of Rome, which include large libraries and collections of archives including the National Library, the University Library, the FAO Library and the Vatican Library, all of which you can visit in your hire car with prior appointments. Rome is also the headquarters of the Food, Agriculture and Forestry Organisation of the United Nations. The Tiber flows through Rome from north to south, spanned by some 25 bridges which are always interesting to see in your hire car. On the left bank are the famous seven hills of Rome – Capitoline, Quirinal, Caelian, Esquiline, Palatine, Avetine and the highest at 56 meters (185ft), Viminal, all of which you can explore in your hire car while in Rome. Between the hills and the river is a level area, the ancient Campus Martius, which was until recent times the main urban area of Rome. Unfortunately Rome’s atmosphere is fairly heavily polluted and many of the buildings that you can visit in your hire car in inner Rome are in danger of becoming sacrificed to the pollution. However, since the beginning of the 1980s the authorities have been endeavouring to halt the decay in Rome by restorative measures, and you will be able to see some of the changes while touring Rome in your hire car. The Aurelian Walls or Mura Aureliane are a circle of massive brick walls some 19km (12miles) long, complete with gates and towers which were built around Rome by the Emperor Aurelian in AD271-278. Long stretches of the walls around ancient Rome are still preserved and you can explore them in your hire car. It is only in modern times that Rome has extended beyond the Aurelian Walls. Already known in ancient times as the Eternal City (Roma Aeterna), Rome was for a millennium and a half the cultural centre of Europe and the scene of great historical events. Rome was the first city of world stature, capital of the Roman Empire, and thereafter Rome was the home of the Popes with their world wide spiritual authority. Rome was the birthplace of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the most powerful single religious communities on the history of the world and most of the sights you can see in Rome in your hire car have some relation to the religion. The ancient city of Rome was traditionally founded on 21st April 753BC, but there must have been a Latin settlement of some consequence before then on this convenient site near the mouth of the Tiber. The oldest part of Rome that you can visit in your hire car consists of the Palatine and Quirinal hills and between them the Forum at the foot of the Capitol. The development of medieval Rome was shaped by Christianity, which came to Rome in the mid 1st century, and thereafter demonstrated its ability to withstand the declining authority of paganism. The conversion of ancient Rome to Christian Rome made the Papacy the supreme spiritual power in the west. In subsequent centuries Rome was ravaged by enemy attacks, the struggle between the Empire and the Papacy and strife between the great noble families. Rome suffered a further blow with the exile of the popes to Avignon (1309-77), during which Cola di Rienzo tried to establish a republic on the ancient Roman model. After the occupation and sacking of Rome by Charles V’s forces, which drove away all of Rome’s artists, recovery was slow. In the 18th and 19th centuries economic importance and artistic achievement of Rome both declined. Nevertheless Rome continued to attract increasing numbers of artists and connoisseurs from many lands in quest of the classical art of antiquity which Rome promised, particularly after the publication of Johann Joachim Wincklemann’s history of Greek art, written in Rome about 1760. A revival of Rome’s life and art came only with its incorporation in the new kingdom of Italy in 1870, which gave Rome the status of a national capital and royal residence. This was the period of the ‘Third Rome’. The 20th century created the ‘Fourth Rome’. A development plan initiated in 1931 provided for the opening up of overcrowded slum areas of Rome, the disengagement and restoration of ancient buildings in Rome, the construction of large new avenues throughout Rome and the creation of public parks and gardens and well-planned modern suburbs, much of which you can explore in your hire car while in Rome today. In March 1957 the treaties established the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, also known as the Rome treaties were signed in Rome. During the football World Cup held in 1990 many buildings in Rome were restored and new building projects undertaken, which you can continue to explore in your hire car while in Rome today. The busiest traffic intersection in Rome is the Piazza Venezia, which you will find at the south end of the Via del Corso in your hire car. On the west side of the square in your hire car your will find the Palazzo Venezia, originally a fortress like building erected about 1455, it has also been used as an embassy building and from 1926 to 1943 was Mussolini’s official residence. The Palazzo is now a museum with a fine arcade that house tapestries, pictures, busts and other artefacts of various centuries, nations and cultures worth seeing on a visit in your hire car while in Rome. On the south side of the Piazza Venezia in your hire car stands the huge National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II, in white Brescia marble, it was began in 1885 to the design of Court Giuseppe Sacconi as a symbol of the newly united Italy and some times now refers to disrespectfully as the ‘Rome Dentures’. Behind the National Monument and to the south in your hire car, rises the Capitol, the smallest but historically the most important of Rome’s hills that you can visit in your hire car. In the eastern part of the monument are the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento and the Museo Sacrario delle Bandiere e Cimeli della Marina Militare (Flag Museum) which you can also visit in your hire car while in Rome. Behind the National Monument in Rome, to the south in your hire car, rises the Capitol (Italian Campidoglio), which is the smallest but historically most important of Rome’s hills. The Capitoline Musem which adjoins the church on the south side contains the municipal collection of ancient sculptures, which is worth a visit in your hire car while in this part of Rome. Next in your hire car you can visit the Piazza del Campidoglio which was designed by Michelangelo and constructed from 1547 onwards and is one of the most finely conceived of Renaissance square in Rome. One the south east side of the square in your hire car you will find the Palazzo dei Senatori, which is the official residence of the Mayor and the City Council of Rome, and was built around 1598. On the south west side of the Capitol Sqaure in your hire car is the Palazzo dei Conservatori which was originally the seat of Rome’s city council, but now houses a collection of major importance. The Museo Nuovo, which a collection of Greek sculpture from the 5th century BC and the Tarpeian Roack, from which in Roman times condemned prisoners were hurtled to their death, are both situated in this part of Rome and worth a visit in your hire car. From the Via del Campidoglio, between the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Senstorio in your hire car there is a magnificent view of the remains of the Forum Ronanum in the Ancient part of Rome. The area of low ground, south-east of the Capitol in your hire car, between the Palatine and the Esquiline in Rome, was drained in the 6th century BC by the construction of the Cloaca Maxima with its outlets into the Tiber, and thereafter was occupied by markets and other trading activities and became the meeting place of popular assemblies in Rome and court if law. Today this is the site of the Forum Romanum in Rome which you can visit in your hire car. Below the Tabularium in your hire car, separated from the rest of the Forum excavations by the modern Via del Foro in Rome, are the remains of three ancient shrines – the Portico of the Twelve Gods, dating from the last days of the pagan faith; the Temple of Vespasian, of which three columns survive; and the Temple of Concordia, originally built in 366 BC and splendidly restored by Tiberius. All of which are worth a visit in your hire car while in Rome. Beyond the Via del Foro in your hire car is the enclosed area containing the main part of the Forum, the entrance of which is from the Via del Fori Imperiali, on the north side in your hire car. Immediately left of the entrance is the Temple of Faustina of which the portico and part of the cella survive, which you can see while in Rome. To the right of the entrance are the remains of the Basilica Aemilia, equally worth a visit in your hire car while in Rome. Opposite this in your hire car, on the far side of the Sacra Via is the oldest street in Rome, which climbs up to the Capitol as the Clivus Capitolinus, on which stands the Basilica lulia originally built Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and to the east of this in your hire car the Temple of Castor and Pollux with three fine Corinthian columns, one of the most characteristic landmarks of Rome. Above the south side of the Forum in your hire car, rises the Palatine Hill, the site of the earliest settlement in Rome, which is worth a visit in your hire car. From the Piazza Venezia in Rome, the Via dei Fori Imperial runs in your hire car, past the Imperial Fora to the Colosseum which is worth a visit while in Rome. The massive growth of Rome in late Republican and Imperial times made it necessary to erect new buildings to house markets and courts, and the first of a series of new forums was built by Julius Ceasar. From 1925 onwards the remains were systematically cleared to what you can see on a visit in your hire car while in Rome. Near the southeast end of the Via dei Fori Imperial and the Forum Romanum in your hire car, stands the Rome Colosseum, on the of the world’s most celebrated buildings and a must to see on trip in your hire car while in Rome. With it monumental proportions and severely disciplined structure the Rome Colosseum has long been the symbol of the greatness of Rome and cannot be missed while touring Rome in your hire car. South west of the Rome Colosseum in your hire car stands the Arch of Constantine, a triumphal arch of white marble with a triple opening, erected by the Senate to Commemorate Constantine’s victory over Maxentius in the battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD312, and also worth a visit in your hire car while at the Rome Colosseum. From the Arch of Constantine in your hire car, an imposing avenue, the Via di San Gregorio, runs south between the Caelian Hill and the Palatine in Rome. The Lateran Palace in Rome is another place to visit in your hire car and was for many centuries the residence of the popes in Rome; adjoining it is the Lateran Basilica also worth a visit in your hire car while in Rome. The Lateran can also be reached from the Rome Colosseum by going south along Via Claudia in your hire car and from there north east through the Via di Santo Stefano Rotondo. Turning to the Termini Stations district of Rome you will find the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in your hire car, which was built in 442 to house the chains of St Peter. A little way north of San Pietro in Vincoli in your hire car is Via Cavour, which branches off the Via del Fori Imperials in Rome and runs north east to the Piazza dell’Esquilino. On the south east side of this square in your hire car is the imposing church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome’s five patriarchal churches and the largest of the eighty or so churches dedicated to the virgin, that your can visit in Rome in your hire car. At the north east end of the Via Cavour in Rome you will come to the large Piazza dei Cinquencento in your hire car. On the south east side of this square is the Termini Station or Stazione Centrale Roma-Termini, which was completed in 1950 and is an imposing structure of distinctive design, making much use of glass and steel, and is worth a visit in your hire car while in Rome. The north side of the Piazza dei Cinquecento and the area of Rome to the north are occupied by the Baths of Diocletain (Terme di Diocleziano) which are also well worth a visit in your hire car while in Rome. Built in AD 298-305, they are no less magnificent than the Baths of Caracalla and measure 350 meters (1148ft) each way. The Museo Nazionale Romano o della Term (Roman National Museum or Baths Museum) can be found in this area of Rome in your hire car. Founded in 1886, it contains material discovered on state property in and around Rome and has developed into the most important collection of antiquities in Rome, except for the museums of the Vatican, which you can also visit in your hire car while in Rome. A little way further north in your hire car is the Via XX Settembre in Rome, which commemorates September 20th 1870, when Italian troops marched into Rome after the withdrawal of the French. The Vatican City is one place you should not miss while in your hire car in Rome. It lies on the right bank of the Tiber and was established as a substitute for the Papal States of States of the Church which had been abolished in 1870. The Vatican and the Vatican gardens cover a total area of 44ha (109 acres) and are populated by about 400 inhabitants. A hire car is a must for exploring surrounding areas of Rome. South west of Rome in your hire car, on the cost, is the little town and resort of Fiumicino which was only founded in 1825. To get there in your hire car from Rome take the Via Ostiense; the old road. The Via Portuense is 4km (2.5 miles) shorter in your hire car, but ithis route from Rome is very hilly and winding. Near to the town are the excavations of the old part of Rome which you can visit in your hire car. A trip along the Via Appia Antica from Rome in your hire car is very rewarding. The road, constructed in 312BC, originally ran from Rome via Terrancina to Capua and was later extended to Benevento and Brindisi. Along the road you can see the remains of the rows of tombs from your hire car, which lined the roads outside the city of Rome. Note: There are restrictions on the use of hire cars in Rome. Both in particular areas of Rome and at various times of day. Parts of Rome are closed for hire cars. Italy Car HireHome of opera, Ferrari and designers like Giorgio Armani, Prada and Gucci; Italy is a place of diversity and culture, all free to be explored in your hire car. From the snow capped peaks of the Alpes in the north, through to the unique and magical city of Venice in the northeast of Italy, whose streets are full of water, the central Tuscany region of Italy, full of evocative landscapes; peaceful and timeless, and the main wine making region of Italy; Florence, its capital, is a great art centre. Italy’s capital Rome is home of one of the greatest amphitheatres, the Colosseum, which was commissioned in AD 72, you will also find the Vatican City here in your hire car, the world capital of Catholicism and the world’s smallest state, occupying just 43ha (106 acres). The south of Italy is rich in archaeological remains, such as the famous Pompeii. Italy also includes the beautiful islands of Sicily and Sardinia, equally worth a visit in your hire car. See our links to Venice Car Hire, Florence Car Hire, Rome Car Hire, Naples Car Hire, together with Alghero, Cagliari, Olbia for Sardinia Car Hire and Catania and Palermo for Sicily Car Hire, for details of what you may see on a trip to these places in your hire car while exploring Italy.
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