Tutte le strade portano a Roma in Italian
| Literal translation | All roads lead to Rome |
| Meaning | There’s more than one way to reach a goal |
| IPA pronunciation | /ˈtutte le ˈstraːde ˈportano a ˈroːma/ |
Tutte le strade portano a Roma
All roads lead to Rome
The structure of Tutte le strade portano a Roma is similar to that of the proverb Tutti i fiumi portano al mare, “all rivers lead to the sea”.
Where does this come from? In ancient times, Rome was the capital city of the Roman Empire, l’impero romano, and probably the most important city in all of Europe. It was even called caput mundi, a Latin phrase meaning “center of the world”.
Imagine a circle with Rome in its center. Or imagine a human heart, with its countless arteries leading to it. Now imagine hundreds of roads throughout Europe, all leading to one city in Italy, Rome. Roads in ancient Rome were considered to start from the Golden Milestone, known in Italian as the miliario aureo, a column erected by the Emperor Augustus, and all distances in the Roman Empire were measured relative to it.
Just as there were many roads in Europe that led to ancient Rome, there are many ways today that lead to the same goal.
➡️ Related lessons
- Portare (to bring, to lead)
- Strada (Road)
- Tutto (all, everything)
- A (preposition)
- Prepositions
- Definite articles
- All Italian expressions
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