Maybe some of you are already used to games such as Caesar 4 or to virtual environments like Second Life. It seems a international team of scientists decided to mix the glory of ancient Roman Empire and virtual reality. The result? From today, you can take a virtual walk in one of the great city of all times the ancient Rome. Today was unveiled Rome Reborn 1.0,  a 10-year project based at the University of Virginia which begun at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The international team of archaeologists, architects and computer specialists that created Rome Reborn 1.0 employed the same high-tech tools used for simulating contemporary cities such as laser scanners and virtual reality to build the biggest, most complete simulation of an historic city ever created. The result is a virtual 3D model that shows almost the entire city within the 13-mile-long Aurelian Walls as it appeared in A.D. 320. At that time Rome was the multicultural capital of the western world and had reached the peak of its development with an estimated population of one million.

Bernard Frischer, director of the "Rome Reborn" project and director of the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia, stated, "'Rome Reborn 1.0' is the continuation of five centuries of research by scholars, architects and artists since the Renaissance who have attempted to restore the ruins of the ancient city with words, maps and images. Now, through hard work by our interdisciplinary team, we have realized their seemingly impossible dream. This is just the first step in the creation of a virtual time machine, which our children and grandchildren will use to study the history of Rome and many other great cities around the world. We give special thanks to the Comune di Roma and its Museum of Roman Civilization (Rome) for the constant support and encouragement they gave the project from the start."

The greatest fact about the virtual Rome is that the users can interact and navigate with complete freedom. For example they can enter (virtually, of course) in buildings such as the Roman Senate House, the Colosseum, or the Temple of Venus and Rome.

According to the scientists Rome Reborn 1.0 will be updated as new discoveries will be made. The simulation of Rome has cost about 2 million dollars, and can be used as an excellent tool to learn more about ancient Rome by students and tourists alike.