Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,705,317 residents. Rome has an urban area of 3,457,690 as well as a metropolitan area of 4,013,057 inhabitants. It is located in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula, on the Tiber river. Rome's history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilization. Even outside of the history of the Roman Empire, Rome has a significant place in the story of Christianity up to the present day, for it endures as the home of the papacy. The worldwide Roman Catholic Church is administered from the Vatican City, run by the Holy See as an independent enclave and the world's smallest sovereign state. Today, Rome is a modern, cosmopolitan city, and the third most-visited tourist destination in the European Union. Due to its influence in politics, media, the arts and culture, Rome has been described as a global city. Rome's international airport, Fiumicino, is the largest in Italy and the city hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Italian companies, as well as the headquarters of three of the world's 100 largest companies: Enel, ENI, and Telecom Italia. As one of the few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively unscathed, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character. The historic centre of Rome is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Rubies

The ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. The red color caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum called sapphires. The ruby considered one of the four precious stones, together with the sapphire, the emerald, and the diamond. All natural rubies have imperfections in them, including color impurities and inclusions of rutile needles known as silk. Gemologists use these needle inclusions found in natural rubies to distinguish them from synthetics, simulants, or substitutes. Usually the rough stone heated before cutting. Almost all rubies today treated in some form, with heat treatment being the most common practice. However, rubies that are completely untreated but still of excellent quality command a large premium. The Price of rubies primarily is by color. The brightest and most valuable red called pigeon blood red, commands a huge premium over other rubies of similar quality. After color follows clarity: similar to diamonds, a clear stone will command a premium, but a ruby without any needle-like rutile inclusions may indicate that the stone been treated. Cut and carat also determine the price. In the evaluation of colored gemstones, color is the single most important factor. Color divides into three components, hue, saturation and tone. Hue refers to color as we normally use the term. Transparent gemstones occur in the following hues: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, purple and pink are the spectral hues. The first six are spectral hues; the last two are modified spectral hues. Purple is a hue that falls halfway between red and blue. Pink is a paler shade of red. In nature there are rarely pure hues so when speaking of the hue of a gemstone we speak of primary and secondary and sometimes tertiary hues. In ruby the primary hue must be red. All other hues of the gem species corundum called sapphire. Ruby may exhibit a range of secondary hues. Orange, purple, violet and pink are possible.