Rome is littered with ruins from the ancient Roman period, which is traditionally dated from 753 B.C. to A.D. 476. A fine example is the Colosseum, which the Flavian emperors built to host battles between slaves, known as gladiators. The forum, where citizens gathered to shop, meet each other and worship, contains a great concentration of well-preserved ruins. Trajan's column, a memorial celebrating the emperor's victory in war, provides an excellent insight into ancient Rome's military past and a reminder that conquest as much as art is the foundation of much of the city's culture.
Rome remains the center of the Roman Catholic church and the seat of the Pope, and the city is home to hundreds of churches with distinctive histories. The most notable of these is St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. St. Peter's is one of the great places of pilgrimage in the Roman Catholic world, and the interior contains sculpture by Michelangelo and architecture by Bernini, among others.
The Vatican Museum hosts one of the finest and most extensive collections of art anywhere in the world. Standouts are many, but include the monumental sculpture "Laocoon and his Sons" in the Museo Pio-Clementino; the Raphael galleries containing such masterpieces as "The School of Athens"; and the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's famous ceiling above the visitor, and his fresco "The Last Judgment" on one of the walls.
The opening of the MAXXI gallery in 2010 emphasized the increasingly vibrant contemporary art scene in the city. Along with art, fine food is an integral part of Roman cultural life, and can be enjoyed in the city's many excellent restaurants such as La Pergola which has three Michelin stars. The sport of soccer gives perhaps the best insight into the passions of the modern Roman, especially the ferocious rivalry between the city's two strongest teams, AS Roma and SS Lazio.
