Today's Rome ...

Today's Rome ...

... is not the Roma your mother knew

Home to nearly 3 million residents and a gazillion tourists, Rome is virtually busting at the seams. For decades, the city was all about its centro storico, where a chunk of the city's most fabled museums, monuments, and cultural relics have stood for centuries. Replete with postcard landmarks, Baroque palaces, and hyper-luxury hotels, the "Disneyfication" of the historic center is well under way.

As there was no room to grow upward, Rome has had to stretch outward. To relieve pressure in the city center, city officials have focused on building a "new" Rome beyond the historic quarter. In the process, old, economically weaker, satellite districts have been revitalized. Former working-class neighborhoods—San Lorenzo to the north, Ostiense and Testaccio to the south—have become trendy. This "other" Rome is now studded with buildings designed by superstar architects and neighborhoods that are shabby-chic, alternative, and full of flair.

... is creating new "It" neighborhoods

The leader among Rome's "It" nabes is San Lorenzo, set just a stone's throw away from the Termini train station. Rome's new "Left Bank" district is filled with students and a young bohemian crowd thanks to its close proximity to the La Sapienza University. In fact, if you don't know what you're looking for, you could easily get lost in this maze of dark narrow streets, many now lined with underground caffès, bars, hip restaurants, and locales with live-music venues. The leading scene-arenas include Formula 1 (Via degli Equi 13), for top pizzas; Da Franco ar Vicoletto (Via dei Falisci 1/b), just around the corner, for fish lovers; and Arancia Blu (Via dei Latini 55), which draws the green crowds thanks to its vegetarian menus. The likes of bands such as The Cure, U2, and Pearl Jam have been known to play at I Giardini di Adone (Via dei Reti 38/A). Or throw down your best moves at Balic (Via degli Aurunci 35), where the vibe is ethno-chic disco-pub.

... is going multi-culti

Spend a day in Rome's Esquilino neighborhood and you'll see just how multicultural the Eternal City is becoming. Once famous for its spice market at Piazza Vittorio, the area neighborhood has fast become a multiethnic stomping ground. In fact, finding a true Roman restaurant or a local shopkeeper is hard to come by in this area, now that Chinese, Indian African, and Middle Eastern restaurants have moved in (a typical example: the Syrian restaurant, Zenobia, perched on Piazza Dante, even includes a weekend belly-dancing show). Homegrown and locally produced, the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio is a perfect picture of the neighborhood's growing ethnic population. Made up of 16 musicians from Brasil, Senegal, Tunisia, Cuba, Argentina, Hungary, Ecuador, and Italy, the troupe was founded in 2002 and got its start in the ramshackle district just steps away from Rome's Termini train station.

... is going Hollywood

A physicist with a secret symbol branded on his dead body. An antimatter bomb meant to incinerate the Vatican. A 400-year-old secret society unleashing scientific terrorists against the Catholic church. Take these elements, then add in Gian Lorenzo Bernini's greatest sculptures, Rome's historic settings, and a climax that features everything but the Starship Enterprise, and you have Angels & Demons, the page turner that is Dan Brown's prequel to his smash novel, The Da Vinci Code.Hollywood arrive in April 2008 to film.

Director Ron Howard probably called out for "Lights..camera..and lots of violent action!" For when four cardinals (candidates to be the new pope) wind up missing and murdered at a papal enclave, it is up to Tom Hanks and Naomi Watts to track down the trail of the Illuminati, the secret society founded by Galileo, Bernini, and others to bolster science against the 17th-century Inquisition. The "Path of Illumination" that they follow through Rome leads to four Altars of Science: Raphael's Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo (Earth); the "West Ponente" disk in St. Peter's Square (Air); Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Theresa in Santa Maria della Vittoria (Fire); and Bernini's Piazza Navona fountain (Water). Along the way, they decipher mysterious ambigrams, uncover corpses in St. Peter's, and unlock the Illuminati's lair (in Castel Sant'Angelo, no less).

Many of the sights in the book and film are now included on popular "Angels & Demons" walking tours. No matter that critics have faulted Brown for factual errors, gratuitous violence, and James Bond-like shenanigans—any project that can bring Bernini's greatest masterpieces to the world's movie multiplexes gets our vote.

... is breaking old ground

In the fall of 2007, archaeologists unearthed an important discovery dating back to the birth of Rome. A domed cavern with lustrous mosaics, which experts believe to be the sacred sanctuary of the Lupercal dedicated to Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome, was discovered underneath the House of Augustus near the Palatine Hill. Legend has it that Romulus and Remus, sons of the god Mars, were abandoned by the Tiber river and later discovered in a nearby cave by a female wolf who nursed them. City officials plan to make the site open to the public once restoration is finished in 2009.

... is looking a lot like Epcot

At least if you headed to Rome's brand-new and cutting-edge convention center, the Nuova Fiera di Roma. Its space-age archways and atrium make it look like it would fit right in at Walt Disney World's Epcot. The new exposition center is located just minutes from Rome's Fiumicino Airport, conveniently connected by railway, and replaces the original Fiera di Roma located in EUR. The new facility boasts 22 pavilions covering more than 300,000 square meters of land—a prominent contender on the European-Expo scene for business tourism, conferences, and conventions.

... is shopping-till-you-drop

Three maxi-shopping complexes were opened in the span of two years in and around Rome. The first to open was Centro Commerciale Leonardo, with some 200 stores, conveniently located near Rome's Fiumicino Airport and connected by train to and from the city center. Originally conceived to be the granddaddy of malls in Italy, Roma Est opened its doors in March 2007 with 200 individual outlets and a mega-movie complex. In July 2007, that mall was trumped by the giant shopping playground, Porta di Roma, where shoppers can choose from 250 stores, and even that's not the full picture. By 2008, when the rest of the mall is slated for completion, a bowling alley, multiplex movie theater, two indoor swimming pools, and a fitness facility will have been added. On the rooftop level, shoppers will be able to blow off steam on one of four tennis courts, two mini-soccer fields, and a covered swimming pool, plus two rooftop restaurants.

... is in love with amore

Many a Roman lothario feels the need to prove the everlasting quality of his love. One of the ways favored recently was inspired by scenes from the 2007 movie version of the popular Italian book, Ho Voglia Di Te (I Really Want You). In this scenario, Riccardo Scarmarcio, Italy's leading teen heartthrob plays an impassioned lover who literally chains his sweetheart to a lamppost on the Ponte Milvio bridge—which spans the Tiber—then dramatically throws the key into the river. So many couples began flocking to the Tiber-spanning bridge to reenact the scene that one of the lampposts collapsed some months after the movie's release. To cope with the craze, city officials installed 24 heart-shaped columns on the bridge, with chains strong enough to withstand the hundreds of locks. A Web site (www.lucchettipontemilvio.com) was also created for die-hard romantics who wish to create a virtual lovelock.

... is more commuter-friendly

Plans are underway to build Rome's third subway line, or "Line C." Slated for completion in 2015, the new line will cover key parts of the historic city center, including Piazza Venezia and Largo Argentina. City officials also approved construction of an extension of the B-line from the Metro's Piazza Bologna station, adding four more stops, with completion for 2010. Relief is also in store for commuters traveling aboveground: ATAC, Rome's public bus transportation company, has added GPS monitors to help track distances and waiting times, with the new tracking devices already in place at major bus stops throughout the city.

... is going green

In efforts to further promote an "environmentally friendly" way of living, the city of Rome teamed up with the Ministry for the Environment and installed seven new stations where cars, scooters, and bicycles that run on electricity can recharge their batteries. There are now a total of 11 recharging stations across the city including those closest to the historic city center: Piazza Mastai (Trastevere), Via Appia Nuova (San Giovanni), Piazza Cola di Rienzo (St. Peter's), and Viale Europa (EUR). Currently, there is no fee for recharging your vehicles (though the city plans to implement a 40-euro-cent fee for use in the future).

... is breaking new ground

Eternal Rome is in the middle of a building boom, one kick-started by the Vatican's 2000 Jubilee celebrations and backed by Rome's can-do mayor, Walter Veltroni.

Voguish new landmarks, like the Parco della Musica, a set of three armadillolike music halls designed by modernist Renzo Piano, garnered magazine covers; the slaughterhouse-turned-contemporary art museum of MACRO al Mattatoio earned headlines; and minimalist masterpieces like Richard Meier's Jubilee Church may yet prove to be as enduring and image-defining as were Michelangelo's Palazzo Senatorio or Bernini's St. Peter's Square.

When it comes to transforming an old working-class district into a scene-arena, "starchitects" and their new iconic buildings often lead the way.

New case in point: Rem Koolhaas recently won the competition to revamp Ostiense's Mercati Generali food market.

Before long this moldering landmark will be transformed into Rome's "Covent Garden."

Magliana is now the site of a new model residential complex rising up near Rome's airport and designed by Richard Rogers, architect of Paris's Beaubourg Centre and New York City's Hearst Tower.

Among the newest projects is the Casa della Ballo (House of Dance). After the successful openings of the Casa del Cinema (2004, Villa Borghese) and the Casa del Jazz (2005, EUR), city officials have decided to back this EUR 1,000,000 project, which will have a dance hall, library, and exhibition space spread out over 4,000 square meters in the Prenestina-Palmiro Togliatti area (Southeast Rome)—construction is slated for 2009.