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Abstract:   ROME IN WAR: AN INTRODUCTION AND COMPARISON   During the first three years of war, until the tragic bombing of one of the most heavily populated working class neighborhoods on July 19, 1943, “nothing had actually happened” in Rome: this is the image of the city usually proposed in relation to World War II. But what was it really like to “live in war” and what was the relationship between the population and the regime before the pall of Nazi occupation distorted any normal benchmark? Given the absence of extraordinary events and the sensation, as It so often occurred in the capital’s history, of being set apart from the rest of the country, the use of comparisons might help reconstruct a picture of the specific situation. A comparison of similarities and differences with other cities involved in the war and, more generally, with the category of the “city of war”, is made possible by the growing historiographic interest in recent years for the theme of “total wars” and the massive extent to which the civilian populations has become involved in such conflicts. in addition, the essay takes into account the major interpretations expressed in this issue’s various contributions.