Singh 1

Trisha Singh

Mrs. Losch

Speech and Debate 1 block 2

21 September 2015

The Exotic Vacation Plan: Rome

Have any of you guys traveled in Europe? Ok, Im going to say a legend about the

founding of a place, in Europe. You guys have to guess where it is. Ill give you a clue. One of

the symbols is SPQR. Yes, its Rome. You got it right. By the way, SPQR stands for The

Senate and the People of Rome. So, has anyone gone to Rome? Well, its a pretty popular place

to go. On average, 7 to 10 million tourists visit Rome in a year. Rome first became a major

artistic centre during ancient Rome, with forms of important Roman art such as architecture,

painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Rome is a great place to go for vacation because of its

nice geography, interesting art, and lost-lasting architecture.

This is just some basic info about Rome. Rome is Italys capital. Their government is run

by a mayor, who is currently Ignazio Mariano, and a city council. The former Roman empires

main language was Latin, but has now evolved into the present-day Italian. So now, Im going to

talk about the climate and geography of Rome, and how its important.

Roman geography played a major role in becoming a powerful empire. The Alps and the

Apennines, both mountain ranges, helped to protect Rome from invasion since they blocked

routes to enter. Also, the Po and the Tiber river valleys were rich with volcanic soil, which

made it more fertile than most places in Europe at the time. As a result, the population grew

quickly because of the surplus production of grains and olives, etc. (Robinson). This all helped
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the empire to spread across the Mediterranean, and thats why Rome is here today. Rome

climate very broadly is of the Mediterranean variety. The summer months are warm to mild,

and the winters are cold. The months of April, May, October, and November are very pleasant

with temperatures varying between 7C and 23C (Rome Geography). Those are the times that

you should visit Rome since the weather is pretty nice. Now heres some information about

Romes amazing architecture.

Roman art is very unique and youll see it everywhere! One example of this is in the

Sistine Chapel. It has floor mosaics and frescoes on the walls and ceiling. Its construction started

in 1473. Michelangelo Buonarroti painted the Sistine ceiling, which has a lot of famous

paintings. Besides art, Rome is best known for its outstanding architecture.

Ancient Romans were very skilled architects and often reused material from other

buildings. One major building is the Colosseum. It was originally built by Emperor Vespasian

from the Flavia family, but was later run by his son, Titus in 80 AD (Colosseum, Rome). The

Colosseum was supposed to be an area where all the ancient Romans came to watch gladiators

fight to the death, either against other gladiators or animals. To add onto that, the Arch of

Constantine is also a popular place to visit. It was built in 315 AD to celebrate the 3rd

anniversary of Constantines victory over his co-emperor, Maxentius. But one of the best Roman

feats is the Pantheon. It was built by the consul Agrippa between 27 and 25 BC, but was heavily

reconstructed. The Romans copied this type of architecturewith columnsfrom the Greeks.

According to a Roman legend, it is the place where the founder of Rome, Romulus, at his death,

was seized by an eagle and taken off into the skies with the gods (Pantheon, Rome).
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Weve learned a lot about Roman geography, art, and architecture. The former Roman

empire was large, encompassing most of the neighboring regions in the Mediterranean 3,000

years ago, but its values and cultures still exist even today. Thats why Rome is on my bucket

list of places to visit, and I hope its now on yours, too!

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Works Cited

Contributing Authors. The Colosseum. Colosseum, Rome. N.p., n.d. WEB. 21 September

2015.

Contributing Authors. The Pantheon: The Temple of the Roman Gods. Pantheon, Rome.

N.p., n.d. WEB. 21 September 2015.

Geography of Rome. Rome Geography. N.p., n.d. WEB. 21 September 2015.

Robinson, Nick. How Did Geography Help Rome Rise to Power? Education. N.p., n.d. WEB.

21 September 2015.