Rome

"Roma is the pillar that holds our entire enterprise aloft. She cannot waver; which means neither can you."

- Cesare Borgia to his allies.

Rome (Italian: Roma) was a major city in Renaissance Italy, capital of the and headquarters of the Italian sect of the Templar Order. During the modern era, it was the capital city of the Italian Republic.

The Beginning of an Empire
According to legend, two brothers were given a choice, the money or the kingdom; one chose the kingdom while the other chose the money. Both of the brothers had two fine daughters. One brother used his money to hire mercenaries, and stole the kingdom from his brother, the King, imprisoning the King's daughter in the process. Whilst imprisoned, she gave birth to twin boys (Romulus and Remus).

The new king ordered that her and the children be killed; however, the daughter of the new king pleaded that her cousin be spared, so the new king ordered that only the twins be executed, while the daughter be spared. The servants feared the river because of high-tide and so, instead of drowning the twins, they simply placed them near the shallow section of the river, thinking they would still die when the tide came in.

The twins floated down the river until they were found and cared for by a wolf and a bird. A shepherd saw the twins and, remembering a rumor about the twins surviving; he took care of them and raised them as his own until the old king heard of the twins. Together they reclaimed the city, and when their grandfather asked them to guard over the city and become its rulers, they refused the offer, as they believed it was their grandfather's kingdom, not theirs. From there, they decided to build their own city, which would later be called Rome.

Archaeological evidence supports that Rome did in fact grow from pastoral settlements on Colle Palatino, the future site of the Roman Forum, upon which there are several caves. Eventually, the Republic of Rome was founded in c. 510 B.C.E. The successful and wealthy Republic gave birth to the imperial Roman Empires c. 27 B.C.E, which were sprawling territories ruled by succeeding emperors.

In 476, the Western Roman Empire fell, and the Roman Catholic Church managed to take power in 756. After that, Rome became an economic and cultural powerhouse in Europe, even though Florence surpassed Rome as the centre of the Italian Renaissance. Due to the rivalry between the two cities, the papacy spent vast amounts of money to create cultural masterworks.

Roman era
Rome was the capital of the, and was ruled by the Templars under the alias "".

On the 15th March 45 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar was killed by the Assassins, led by Marcus Junius Brutus.

In the year 41, the Assassin Leonius assassinated the Templar Caligula in Rome, whom he stabbed with a dagger.

Renaissance era
In 1476, Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Templar Order and a powerful figure in Vatican politics briefly left the city to discuss his Order's plans, before returning to affirm Papal approval. Assent was given by Pope Sixtus IV, and the Templars were provided with military support for their endeavors.

In 1492, Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI, and head of the Papal States and Catholic Church. Ruling from Rome, he was left alone by the Assassins for the most part, until 1499, when Ezio Auditore da Firenze learned that the Vault was located in Rome, beneath the Sistine Chapel.

In 1500, following the siege by Cesare Borgia on the Assassin headquarters of Monteriggioni, Ezio Auditore returned to Rome to exact his revenge. Rome, at the time, had fallen far behind its fellow cities of Florence and Venice, and had grown stagnant in terms of development due to the influence of the Borgia.

The Borgia maintained oppression over the city with Borgia Towers located throughout Rome, which prevented shops from opening. In order to free Rome of the Borgia influence, Ezio killed the overlords of the towers and burned the structures themselves to the ground, taking them over for the Assassin Order afterwards.

Additionally, due to the loss of Monteriggioni, Ezio established the Assassins Guild in Rome, and set up its headquarters on Tiber Island. By recruiting several Roman civilians as Apprentice Assassins, the Assassin Order worked to free Rome of Templar control.

Modern Times
Desmond, Lucy, Rebecca and Shaun travelled to Rome on 10th of October, 2012 to retrieve the Apple of Eden, after Desmond relived the last of Ezio's memory and found that Ezio had locked the Piece of Eden in the Vault, and had left the password to unlock the Vault on the wall of the Sanctuary, where they were hiding.

Structure
The city is divided into four districts: Centro, Antico, Campagna, and the Vaticano District. With the exception of the Vaticano district, these were also subdivided into 12 territories, each one controlled by a Borgia Tower.

Landmarks in Rome included the Pantheon, the Colosseo, the Passetto di Borgo, the Castel Sant'Angelo and Cappella Sistina.

44 BCE

 * Gaius Julius Caesar

15th century

 * Rodrigo Borgia (spared) (ACII DNA Sequence 14: Veni, Vidi, Vici Memory 2)

16th century

 * Juan Borgia (AC:B DNA Sequence 5: The Banker Memory 4)
 * Octavian de Valois (AC:B DNA Sequence 6: The Baron de Valois Memory 4)
 * Micheletto Corella (spared) (AC:B DNA Sequence 7: The Key to the Castello Memory 3)

Trivia

 * The city of Rome is the largest city ever seen in the Assassin's Creed series. It is three times larger than Florence, the first city featured in Assassin's Creed II.
 * In-game, the city is tilted roughly 15 degrees to the right from real life.
 * While Rome and Florence's architecture were historically similar during the game's time period, the developers of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood designed Rome with its later Baroque style to be more familiar to their audience.
 * The area where Ezio climbed up to the Castello from the river in Assassin's Creed II is unreachable in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, with fencing and blockades along the Castello and Vaticano district.
 * The buildings seen north of the Passetto di Borgo in Assassin's Creed II do not appear in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.