The Eternal City

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The Eternal City

Historically, Rome has few peers.  The Eternal City, with its artistic traditions and present-day cultural vitality, offers students wide-ranging opportunities for personal enrichment.

Whether you are a student in the arts, humanities, architecture, social sciences, international business, or any other major, Rome is the ideal city in which to learn, live, and explore. Nowhere else are so many centuries vibrantly blended. In much of modern Rome one can visually trace more than a thousand years of western historical development. As Italy’s capital city, Rome has a cultural and intellectual life which is unsurpassed. Home to the headquarters of UN agencies and the scholarly academies of many nations, Rome continues to be — as it has been since before Caesar — a crossroads of cultural, economic, political and social exchange between Europe, Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, and beyond.
But above all, Rome, the mother of cities, is amazingly hospitable; much can depend on the visitor. Therein lies the secret to a successful Roman sojourn: proper perspective, an appreciation for and admiration of this majestic queen of cities. Rome is simultaneously a cosmopolitan metropolis with all the attractions and amenities of a major European capital, as well as a provincial city with an immanently human pace. And unlike other Italian cities where one might feel overwhelmed by crowds of tourists confined to narrow streets and small city centers, Rome is a large city where a person can always find a quiet street or peaceful park to collect one’s thoughts.

Romans live and revel in their city, refusing to let it stagnate as a museum, challenging a weighty history with a gleeful defiance. Concerts animate ancient ruins, children play soccer around the Pantheon, and august piazze serve as outdoor movie theaters. What may seem sacrilegious to the tourist comes naturally to the Romans; the capital city is only exercising its rebellious birthright, rejecting the potential paralysis of an overwhelming past. The secret to a successful Roman sojourn lies in proper perspective: an appreciation for admiration of this majestic and ancient city.