Rome Italy Temple - It's ON!

Here is an update...close to my heart. These pictures are of the land that has been designated for the Rome Italy Temple. My first day in Rome as a missionary, my mission President took us to this villa and sat us in this grove of olive trees and told us that some day there would be a temple there. This miracle has been a tender mercy from the Lord in my life. I can't wait to attend the Temple's dedication and hear the beautiful words of the endowment in a language I love and miss.

Construction Status
The Rome Italy Temple will be built on a portion of a 15-acre site in northeast Rome near the Grande Raccordo Anulare—the circular road (beltway) that surrounds the city. The picturesque country site sits on the outskirts of the city at a freeway interchange.1
Building sites in Rome must be examined for Roman ruins before construction is permitted. The inspection is carried out by digging trenches every 10 to 15 feet across the property. The day the temple property was to be inspected, Church members in Rome held a special fast. No ruins were found over the entire property, yet an old Roman village was discovered just 100 yards beyond the property boundary line. The Church purchased the property in the late 1990s.2
President Thomas S. Monson's announcement of a temple to be constructed in Rome was met with an audible gasp and smiles from the congregation gathered for the Saturday morning session of the October 2008 General Conference.3 The Rome Italy Temple will be the first temple in Italy and in the Mediterranean region. For years, Italian Saints have traveled the long distance to the Bern Switzerland Temple, which now serves more stakes and districts from Italy than from any other country. Temple Facts
The Rome Italy Temple will be the twelfth temple built in Europe and the first built in Italy.
Temple History
The growth of the Church in Italy has not been without its opposition. Just three years after the Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, the first missionaries arrived in Genova, Italy, on June 25, 1850, including Elder Lorenzo Snow, who would become the fifth president of the Church. Over the next three years, 221 people were baptized and organized into three branches. But most proselytizing in Italy stopped in the early 1860s in the face of local opposition and because of a request from Church leaders for Italian members to immigrate to Utah. An attempt to reopen missionary work in Italy in 1900 was refused by the government.
The Church was finally reestablished in Italy in 1951, following the conversion of Vincenzo di Francesca, who happened to find a burned copy of the Book of Mormon with a missing cover and title page. Italians who had joined the Church in other countries began to return to Italy during this period. They attended Church with LDS serviceman stationed in Italy in various branches. By the end of 1964, Church records showed 229 members in Italy. That same year, Elder Ezra Taft Benson, an apostle who would become the 13th president of the Church, petitioned the government for permission to resume missionary work. Permission was granted, and missionaries began to proselyte on January 27, 1965. By 1978, membership has grown to over 7,000 and increased to 14,000 by 1990. Today there are over 22,600 members organized into 6 stakes and 7 districts.
Although missionary work had been allowed in Italy since 1964, the Church began in 2000 the lengthy process of seeking a concordat with the government that would grant it state-sponsored status. This status was granted to the Roman Catholic Church in a concordat signed by Mussolini—a relationship that was perpetuated into Italy's post-fascist constitution. Since 1984, however, the Catholic Church has had to share this level of government recognition with other religions operating in Italy. Approved churches become concordates, which receive tax funds and other rights from the government similar to those received by the Catholic Church. In April 2007, Prime Minister Prodi gave his signature of approval, and now it awaits Parliament ratification.

(taken from ldschurchtemples.com)