Rome operates on Central European Time (CET) during winter months, which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+1). During daylight saving time, observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, Rome switches to Central European Summer Time (CEST), which is UTC+2.
Rome is the capital of Italy and one of the world's oldest continuously occupied cities. The entire country of Italy uses the same timezone. Rome is 6 hours ahead of New York, 1 hour ahead of London, and shares the same time as Paris, Berlin, and most of Western Europe.
Rome is known as the "Eternal City" and was founded in 753 BC. Vatican City, the world's smallest independent state, is entirely surrounded by Rome. The Romans were among the first to divide the day into hours, using sundials and water clocks to track time before mechanical clocks were invented.