A DYNAMIC AND INNOVATIVE AREA IN THE HEART OF ITALY

The Roman Hills, comprising 38 municipalities with a strong economic system and a priceless environmental, archeological, historical, artistic heritage, is a great socioeconomic reality. The area's characterizing features are its cultural endowment, its food-and-wine traditions, its infrastructure, the quality of its manufactured products  and its excellence in research, and the precious vestiges left by successive eras of history: cities built by the Volsci people, the mistery of Nemi nd its cult, majestic Roman temples and sities, awesome aqueducts, religious centers, castles, the Tusculan villas. Man-made works blend into the landscapes of the Latium Volcano and the Lepine and Prenestine Mountains, standing high on Rome's horizon. Vineyards have been the backdrop for events and vicissitudes here since time immemorial, characterizing the countryside and the local economy, based in great part on winemaking and gastronomy. THis area has the highest density of restaurants in all of Italy! The Roman Hills have forever been places for relaxation, visiting and discoveries. The wealthy patricians of ancient Rome spent their "idle days" here; the popes established their summer residence here, at Castel Gandolfo; travelers on the Grand Tour made sure to stop by here. And this is where the people of Rome came for their recreation, as folklore and still-living traditions tell. But the Roman Hills are by no means lost in dreams about the past. Infrastructure development has reached high levels of intensity. Geographic centrality is the basis for two project that are altering local socioeconomic dynamics: the integrated tourism pole at Valmontone, wich has a hotel pole and a theme park that will rival France's Eurodisney; and the integrated logistic pole at Colleferro, a technologically advanced platform serving north-south freight flows and closely linked to the seaports of southern Italy. Just this side of the boundary with Rome are several of Italy's most important science and technology research centers (ENEA, CNR, ESA/ESRIN, INFN). The Roman Hills thus have solid foundations for ongoing development, making culture and knowledge the cornerstones for innovative and modern socioeconomic growth.