Set in the Italian countryside, La Città features various city-states vying for population. Each player starts with two cities and is charged with expanding the different aspects of those cities to attract larger populations.

Players build farms to feed their people, quarries to finance their expansions, marketplaces to allow growth in their cities, and bathhouses to keep their people clean and healthy. Additionally, structures can be built that give the city influence in one of three categories; superiority in one of these categories causes population to shift from other nearby cities when the "Voice of the People" is decided at the end of each turn.

At the end of six turns, the player with the most points — which are distributed for well-rounded cities, well-fed populations, and the overall size of population — wins.

Note: The correct pronunciation is like "Cheetah", but with the accent on the last syllable: "La Chee-TAH".