Postcards from... Booklet 2022

N o other city in the world can boast as rich and a long- surviving history as Rome. It was the glorious heart of the great Roman Empire, one of the chief cities of the Renaissance, the near constant base for the Papacy in the ‘city within a city’ and present-day, buzzing capital of Europe’s fourth largest economy, Italy. Like a re-worked canvas, all these elements have been carefully applied in overcoats, building on each layer to create simply the most storied campus within a thriving modern metropolis. First described as ‘The Eternal City’ by the Romans on the assumption that no matter what happened in the rest of the ancient world the glory of Rome would always remain standing, it became a natural target for successive sackings by the barbaric hordes from the north during the 900 years of the Dark Ages. Curiously it could have crumbled into obscurity, but for the presence of the medieval Church that was the real power across Europe. Once established the importance of the Papacy and an autonomous Vatican City has served to protect the