[Photo from turismoroma.it]

So please do not merely call it the Eternal City. Today there is real “work in progress” in Rome; a city gauging its identity to the new millennium, while simultaneously firmly preserving its historical and traditional ties. There is a future with stunning buildings arising among the ancient ruins lying in store for the Capital. The top names in architecture are all here: Richard Meier, Renzo Piano, Massimiliano Fuksas … for you to discover the spectacular structural designs of an “alternative city”.

Standing at the foot of the Parioli district and alongside the Olympic Village is the Auditorium “Parco della Musica”, a major focal point for music lovers in Rome.

A stone’s throw away in the Flaminio district, the Iraqi-British Architect Zaha Hadid, who in 2004 became the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, has designed the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st-Century Arts, formerly the Montello military barracks.

Our journey through ultra-modern Rome automatically leads us to the suburb of Eur. A visit is here mandatory to the “Nuvola” (Cloud), Massimiliano Fuksas’ futuristic new Palazzo dei Congressi (Convention Centre).

Be it slightly off the beaten tourist track, a trip to the eastern suburb of Tor Tre Teste is rewarded by the dazzling sight of Richard Meier’s magnificent “church of the third millennium”, Dives Misericordia or Jubilee Church.

Learning about contemporary Rome however also means soaking up the atmosphere in the young and working class districts of Testaccio, Ostiense and Garbatella, where movie makers and designers have been scrambling to move into trendy loft apartments, converted from sections of disused warehouses and factories, some of which many be found next to the gas works for example.