Rome

===Language===
{{Main|Roman dialect|Latin}}
[[Image:Nove-bone.jpg|thumb|Advertisement in [[Romanesco dialect]] at a subway station in Rome]]

Rome's historic contribution to language in a worldwide sense is much more extensive, however. Through the process of [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanization]], the peoples of Italy, [[Gallia]], the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and [[Dacia]] developed languages which derive directly from Latin and were adopted in large areas of the world, all through cultural influence, colonisation and migration. Moreover, also modern English, because of the [[Norman Conquest]], borrowed a large percentage of its vocabulary from the Latin language. The [[Latin alphabet|Roman or Latin alphabet]] is the most widely used writing system in the world used by the greatest number of languages.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ostler, N. |year=2007 |title=Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin |location=London |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-8027-1679-8}}</ref>

The medieval [[Roman dialect]] belonged to the southern family of Italian dialects, and was thus much closer to the [[Neapolitan language]] than to the Florentine.<ref name=sie/><ref>{{cite web|title=Romanesco|url=http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/romanesco/|website=www.treccani.it|publisher=Treccani|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> A typical example of Romanesco of that period is ''{{ill|Cronica dell'Anonimo Romano|lt=Vita di Cola di Rienzo|it}}'' ("Life of [[Cola di Rienzo]]"), written by an anonymous Roman during the 14th century.<ref name=sie>{{cite web|title=La Parlata romana|url=http://online.unistrasi.it/Avvisi/Laparlataromana.pdf|website=online.unistrasi.it|publisher=Università per stranieri di Siena|access-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206110011/http://online.unistrasi.it/Avvisi/Laparlataromana.pdf|archive-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> Starting with the 16th century, the Roman dialect underwent a stronger and stronger influence from the [[Tuscan dialect]] (from which modern Italian derives) starting with the reigns of the two [[House of Medici|Medici]] popes ([[Leo X]] and [[Clement VII]]) and with the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Sack of Rome in 1527]], two events which provoked a large immigration from [[Tuscany]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=D'Achille|first1=Paolo|title=Italiano di Roma|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/italiano-di-roma_(Enciclopedia_dell'Italiano)/|website=www.treccani.it|publisher=Treccani|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref><ref name=dia>{{cite web|title=Dialetti|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dialetti_(Enciclopedia_dell'Italiano)/|website=www.treccani.it|publisher=Treccani|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> Therefore, current Romanesco has grammar and roots that are rather different from other dialects in Central Italy.<ref name=dia/>