{"id":1162,"date":"2017-01-11T10:20:40","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T10:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/?p=1162"},"modified":"2025-01-24T14:39:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T14:39:34","slug":"eight-unusual-facts-about-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight unusual facts about Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
Rome is internationally famous for its landmarks, architecture and (often brutal) history. So we\u2019ve hunted past the tales of Romulus and Remus or the slave uprising led by Spartacus to find out the facts which rarely make it to the guide books\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The \u20ac1 million Fountain<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Trevi fountain receives over \u20ac3,000 a day in donated loose change.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
It\u2019s illegal to remove money from the fountain \u2014 in 2002 a man was arrested for doing so \u2014 and the money is collected nightly and given to charities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Spanish Steps\u2026 aren\u2019t Spanish<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Misleadingly, the steps are so-called because the Spanish Embassy used to be located at their base. If anything, they\u2019re hybrid French-Italian steps \u2014 their creation was funded by a French diplomat, Etienne Gueffier, and they were designed by two Italian architects, Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Shops, shops and more shops<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Rome was the proud owner of the first-ever shopping mall. It was built under the rule of Emperor Trajan between 107 and 110 A.D., and consisted of several levels of over 150 shops that sold a wide array of goods from clothes to spices to food.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Colosseum\u2019s Sunroof<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Colosseum used to have a large sun roof, which could be stretch across the crowd to keep them in the shade \u2014 we can only presume it was similar in construction to the one over Central Court at Wimbledon.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Incredibly, the time for all 70,000 spectators to exit the grounds was only three minutes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Rome is older than Italy<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Rome was founded in 753 B.C., whereas Italy didn\u2019t become a unified nation until the late 19th Century. This makes the city more than 2,500 years older than its host country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Birthplace of Concrete<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Concrete was a Roman invention, and was used on structures such as the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Pantheon. The Romans used it as part of vast architectural structures \u2014 from aqueducts to bridges \u2014 and were the first civilisation to use it successfully. The concrete Pantheon dome is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Squatter\u2019s Rights\u2026 for Cats<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
There are around 300,000 cats living on the streets \u2014 and attractions \u2014 of Rome. There\u2019s a law in Rome which allows cats to live undisturbed by the authorities if they\u2019re in groups of five or more \u2014 so the city has a fair few strays. Sounds like a prime opportunity for a Disney movie to us.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Museum of Pasta<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Opened in 1992, the museum devotes eleven rooms to (arguably) the most famous Italian foodstuff. Covering pasta production, innovations, evolution and even artwork, the museum gives a comprehensive overview of the Italian carb we know and love.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rome is internationally famous for its landmarks, architecture and (often brutal) history. So we\u2019ve hunted past the tales of Romulus and Remus or the slave uprising led by Spartacus to find out the facts which rarely make it to the guide books\u2026 The \u20ac1 million Fountain The Trevi fountain receives over \u20ac3,000 a day in donated loose change. It\u2019s illegal to remove money from the fountain \u2014 in 2002 a man was arrested for doing so \u2014 and the money is collected nightly and given to charities. The Spanish Steps\u2026 aren\u2019t Spanish Misleadingly, the steps are so-called because the Spanish Embassy used to be located at their base. If anything, they\u2019re hybrid French-Italian steps \u2014 their creation was funded by a French diplomat, Etienne Gueffier, and they were designed by two Italian architects, Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi. Shops, shops and more shops Rome was the proud owner of the first-ever shopping mall. It was built under the rule of Emperor Trajan between 107 and 110 A.D., and consisted of several levels of over 150 shops that sold a wide array of goods from clothes to spices to food. The Colosseum\u2019s Sunroof The Colosseum used to have a large sun roof, which could be stretch across the crowd to keep them in the shade \u2014 we can only presume it was similar in construction to the one over Central Court at Wimbledon. Incredibly, the time for all 70,000 spectators to exit the grounds was only three minutes. Rome is older than Italy Rome was founded in 753 B.C., whereas Italy didn\u2019t become a unified nation until the late 19th Century. This makes the city more than 2,500 years older than its host country. Birthplace of Concrete Concrete was a Roman invention, and was used on structures such as the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Pantheon. The Romans used it as part of vast architectural structures \u2014 from aqueducts to bridges \u2014 and were the first civilisation to use it successfully. The concrete Pantheon dome is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Squatter\u2019s Rights\u2026 for Cats There are around 300,000 cats living on the streets \u2014 and attractions \u2014 of Rome. There\u2019s a law in Rome which allows cats to live undisturbed by the authorities if they\u2019re in groups of five or more \u2014 so the city has a fair few strays. Sounds like a prime opportunity for a Disney movie to us. The Museum of Pasta Opened in 1992, the museum devotes eleven rooms to (arguably) the most famous Italian foodstuff. Covering pasta production, innovations, evolution and even artwork, the museum gives a comprehensive overview of the Italian carb we know and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-right-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-italy","category-rome"],"yoast_head":"\n
Eight unusual facts about Rome - Blog by Bookings For You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover some of the most unknown but interesting facts about Rome from Italy experts at Bookings For You.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eight unusual facts about Rome - Blog by Bookings For You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover some of the most unknown but interesting facts about Rome from Italy experts at Bookings For You.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog by Bookings For You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-11T10:20:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-24T14:39:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucy Mackay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucy Mackay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lucy Mackay\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/699653fb5b9eacaa02273b8988a74bb8\"},\"headline\":\"Eight unusual facts about Rome\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-11T10:20:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-24T14:39:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/\"},\"wordCount\":441,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Italy\",\"Rome\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/\",\"name\":\"Eight unusual facts about Rome - Blog by Bookings For You\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-11T10:20:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-24T14:39:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/699653fb5b9eacaa02273b8988a74bb8\"},\"description\":\"Discover some of the most unknown but interesting facts about Rome from Italy experts at Bookings For You.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eight unusual facts about Rome\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Blog by Bookings For You\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/699653fb5b9eacaa02273b8988a74bb8\",\"name\":\"Lucy Mackay\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17435dd29c58272e2620257e5cb9da900efe050c4ec2f86df7c71030046e81b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17435dd29c58272e2620257e5cb9da900efe050c4ec2f86df7c71030046e81b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lucy Mackay\"},\"description\":\"Lucy has always had a love of Italy. She has particularly fond memories of childhood holidays spent with family in the Italian Lakes. Her favourite Italian city? Florence!\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/author\/erowley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eight unusual facts about Rome - Blog by Bookings For You","description":"Discover some of the most unknown but interesting facts about Rome from Italy experts at Bookings For You.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eight unusual facts about Rome - Blog by Bookings For You","og_description":"Discover some of the most unknown but interesting facts about Rome from Italy experts at Bookings For You.","og_url":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/","og_site_name":"Blog by Bookings For You","article_published_time":"2017-01-11T10:20:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-24T14:39:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lucy Mackay","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lucy Mackay","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/"},"author":{"name":"Lucy Mackay","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/699653fb5b9eacaa02273b8988a74bb8"},"headline":"Eight unusual facts about Rome","datePublished":"2017-01-11T10:20:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-24T14:39:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/"},"wordCount":441,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg","articleSection":["Italy","Rome"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/","url":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/","name":"Eight unusual facts about Rome - Blog by Bookings For You","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-11T10:20:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-24T14:39:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/699653fb5b9eacaa02273b8988a74bb8"},"description":"Discover some of the most unknown but interesting facts about Rome from Italy experts at Bookings For You.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_1439825942.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/eight-unusual-facts-about-rome\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eight unusual facts about Rome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/","name":"Blog by Bookings For You","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/699653fb5b9eacaa02273b8988a74bb8","name":"Lucy Mackay","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17435dd29c58272e2620257e5cb9da900efe050c4ec2f86df7c71030046e81b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17435dd29c58272e2620257e5cb9da900efe050c4ec2f86df7c71030046e81b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lucy Mackay"},"description":"Lucy has always had a love of Italy. She has particularly fond memories of childhood holidays spent with family in the Italian Lakes. Her favourite Italian city? Florence!","url":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/author\/erowley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20790,"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions\/20790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2021\/03\/trevi-4670067_1280-1024x522.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2021\/03\/colosseum-690384_1280-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bookingsforyou.com\/blog\/images\/2021\/03\/shutterstock_1233255682.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n