Every year on April 21st, the streets of Rome come alive to celebrate the birthday of the Eternal City, which tradition says was founded on the 21st of April 753 BC by the first of its seven kings,  Romulus. According to the famous Latin writer Varro, Romulus, guided by the astrological calculations of the physicist Lucius Tarutius Firmanus, established the city on the Palatine Hill.

History turns into myth when recounting the legend of Romulus and his twin brother Remus. The two were said to be the offspring of the god Mars and the vestal virgin Rhea Silvia. Abandoned by their mother, the twins were rescued and nurtured by a she-wolf on the banks of the Tiber River.