An international team of experts has recreated Ancient Rome in a computer-graphics version that nails down the last column, statue and brick of the Colosseum, Senate, Forums, Temple of Venus and other famous sites.
Web surfers will be able to take a virtual tour of the CGI recreation of Rome at the time of the Emperor Constantine in 320 AD.
Meanwhile, a Roman cinema is being refurbished to give visitors to present-day Rome a 3D experience of the ancient city - complete with chance encounters with emperors, poets, orators and ordinary citizens.
The virtual recreation of Rome, dubbed Rome Reborn, is the fruit of ten years of research and development by academics and computer whizzes in America, Britain, Germany and Italy.
"It's the first time a complete urban fabric has been recreated," said Professor Bernard Frischer of UCLA, unveiling the two-million-dollar project at Rome's Campidoglio on Monday.
A first peek at the 31 monuments and 7,000 buildings is already available at www.romereborn.virginia.edu and the whole thing should be posted at a special new site within a year, Frischer said.
In the meantime, a once-glorious cinema around the corner from the Colosseum is being done up to offer cinema tours of the reborn city.
Rewind Rome will use the cityscape created for the web project and people it with walking, talking Romans of the time that spectators can 'approach' using 3-D specs.
The half-hour film will cost "no more than the price of a normal movie ticket," said Alberto Francesconi of Virtuality Srl, the project creators.
"It's one more thing we're doing to boost Rome tourism," said Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni.
"The Colosseum movie theatre will be turned into a place where people can relive the emotions of seeing Ancient Rome".
The film will be premiered on April 21, 2008, the traditional anniversary of Rome's foundation in 753 BC.
