Giornata Mondiale dell’Acqua 2024 - 2024 World Water Day

Every 22 March, marks World Water Day, an anniversary established by the United Nations in 1992 to remind everyone of the importance of water for our survival on the planet.

World Water Day is an occasion to celebrate the precious natural element of which about 70% of the Earth and the human body are made, but also to reflect on the water crisis afflicting many parts of the world: water scarcity, pollution of water sources, unequal access to drinking water threaten the health, safety and well-being of us all.

Celebrating this day therefore means raising awareness on pressing issues, promoting responsible consumption practices and supporting policies and technologies that can ensure a water future for all.

This year's theme, 'Water for Peace,' invites us to reflect on how water can be harnessed for peace, as a potential tool for promoting peace and international collaboration and an essential resource for life, at a time when geopolitical tensions and environmental challenges are becoming increasingly pressing.

Through simultaneous events, educational initiatives and awareness-raising campaigns around the world, World Water Day calls upon us to share and sustainably manage water resources to prevent conflict, foster community resilience and build a solid foundation for international cooperation.

On the occasion of World Water Day, the Sovrintendenza Capitolina proposes a series of events to discover and deepen knowledge of Rome's cultural heritage related to the theme of water, also with translation into Italian Sign Language.

Programme

Il trionfo dell’acqua: il ninfeo all’Esquilino - The Triumph of Water: The Esquiline Nymphaeum
10 a.m., 60', 10 participants
Trophies of Marius - Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (entrance on Via Carlo Alberto side of the Nicola Callipari garden)
Curated by Letizia Silvestri
The nymphaeum of Alexander Severus, known today as the 'Trophies of Marius', was a castle for distributing water to imperial buildings, to private citizens requesting it, and to public fountains.

Un marinaio di nome Garibaldi - A sailor named Garibaldi
11 a.m., 90', 15 participants
Museum of the Republic of Rome and Garibaldi's Remembrance
Organised by Mara Minasi and the volunteers of the universal civil service
Few people know that Giuseppe Garibaldi, before being the heroic leader who brought about the Unification of Italy, was a skilful sailor. On the occasion of World Water Day, we discover together the naval routes that took the young Garibaldi around the world.
Visit with LIS

Tevere inquieto. 800 anni di inondazioni - Restless Tiber. 800 years of floods
12 noon, 90', 20 participants
Piazza della Minerva (in front of the church façade)
Organised by Alessia Cervelli and Anna Maria Petrosino
A visit to discover the numerous hydrometric plaques which, affixed to the façades of buildings, recall the height reached by the Tiber during the catastrophic floods that the Eternal City has suffered over the centuries.
Visit with LIS

L’acqua degli uomini e degli dei nella Grecia antica - The Water of Men and Gods in Ancient Greece
2.45 p.m., 60', 25 participants
Giovanni Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture
Curated by Anna Maria Rossetti
A fundamental element of life, water, not only plays a leading role in the myriad uses of daily necessities, but also in the worship of divinities. A presence so predominant that it is considered as having sacred power and even deified.
Visit with LIS

L’acqua è una dea - Water is a Goddess
3 p.m., 60', 25 participants
Piazza di Porta Capena (corner of Viale Aventino, F.A.O. side)
Organised by Sovrintendenza Capitolina with Zètema Progetto Cultura
Water was perceived by the Romans as a true divine presence... Along the slopes of the Caelian Hill, ancient authors placed a forest, the lucus Camenarum, inhabited by the Camene, nymphs of spring waters, and the nymph Egeria.

La gestione sostenibile di fontana di Trevi - The sustainable management of the Trevi Fountain
3 p.m., 120' (two visits of 60 minutes), 14 participants per visit
Via della Stamperia (in front of house number 1)
Organised by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina with Zètema Progetto Cultura and ACEA
On the occasion of World Water Day, you can visit the Trevi Fountain to learn about the activities necessary for its maintenance and to gain exceptional access to the two technical rooms at the back of the fountain.

Il Ninfeo degli Annibaldi - The Nymphaeum of the Annibaldis
3.15 p.m. and 4.15 p.m., 60', 8 participants per visit
Via degli Annibaldi (corner of Via del Fagutale)
Curated by Carla Termini
The rich nymphaeum belonged to a wealthy aristocratic residence and can be dated between the end of the republic and the age of Augustus.
Visit at 4.15 p.m. accompanied by LIS

Giochi d'acqua tra piazza Navona e piazza Farnese - Water games between Piazza Navona and Piazza Farnese
4 p.m., 60', 25 participants
Piazza Navona (by the Fountain of the Moor)
Organised by Sovrintendenza Capitolina with Zètema Progetto Cultura
A walk between Piazza Navona and Piazza Farnese, places of popular games and entertainment, where water was, and is, the undisputed protagonist among monumental fountains and stories of ships, artificial lakes and bull hunts.