Rome is located on the Tiber River 15 miles (24 km) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city was built on a defendeble hill dominating the last high-banked river crossing where traverse was faciliated by a midstream isle.
Much of Rome is located within the old city walls. The Servian Wall was built 12 years after Gauls' conquest of the city in 390 BC.
The wall enclosed most of the Esquiline and Caelian Hill and contained the entire area of the other five.
Rome grew beyond the Servian Wall but no more walls were constructed until AD 270 when Aurelian began building in brick-faced concrete. The wall is almost 12 miles long and was the wall Italian forces had to breach in 1870. The wall is still largely intact. The ancient city within the walls covers about 4 percent of the modern municipality's 582 square miles.
The old city is the smallest of Rome's 12 administrative zones. The walled city center is made up of 22 rioni (districts), sorrounding it are 35 quartieri urbani (urban sectors), and within the city limits are six large suburbi (suburbs). The comune of Rome located outside the municipal boundaries about doubles the area of the actual city. A belt highway describes a huge circle around the capital about six miles out from the city center.
The circle ties together the antique roads that led to Rome: the Via Flaminia, the Via Aurelia and Via Appia. Large amounts of modern apartment buildings are located in the districts outside the center, where contemporary architecture has not gone unnoticed. Many street frontages and show windows often change to keep up with the times and the Romans have suceeded in harmonizing the old and the new.
Though small, the old city center contains about 300 hotels and 300 pensioni, over 200 palaces, 20 churches, eight of Rome's major parks, the residence of the Italian president, the houses of the Parliament, offices of the city and city government, and many great and well-known monuments.
The old city also contains thousands of workshops, offices, bars, and restaurants. Millions of tourists annually flock to this area.
