2774th Christmas of Rome: the initiatives until 1 May

Happy Birthday, Rome! Until 1 May, many activities and a rich program await you to celebrate together the 2774th birthday of a city unique in the world.

On 21 April, Mayor Virginia Raggi places the traditional laurel wreath at the Altare della Patria in Piazza Venezia. The day continues with the celebration of Holy Mass by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome at the Ara Coeli Basilica. The program also sees the presentation of the commemorative Medal of the 2774th Birth of Rome made by the Polygraphic Institute and the State Mint, the winner of the Rome Cultori Prize and the winner of the Certamen Capitolinum Prize with the delivery of the first copy of the 2021 edition of the Strenna dei Romanisti.

In compliance with the provisions and suggestions of the health authorities, no public will be present.

Until 1 May, Effetto Roma - sguardi e paesaggi nella città eterna includes the projection, plays of light, and video mapping on Palazzo Senatorio in Piazza del Campidoglio, a design by architect Livia Cannella. The projected images - details of works of art, photos of historical, artistic, and monumental contexts - are inspired by the sense of Rome and emanate the feeling of Romanity that is linked to the various eras of its history, both artistic and cultural.

The Fontana Acqua Paola in Piazza Trilussa and the Fountain of the aqueduct, also known as the Fontanone del Gianicolo, host the installation Roma, Regina Aquarum, an architectural lighting project that traces the history of the waters of Rome. At dusk, the play of dynamic lights comes to life by highlighting the fountains, their details, the symbolism of the coats of arms and statues, the epigraph, the complexity of the geometries. The light show alternates static architectural images with atmospheres light that change in sync with the music that accompanies the story. The artistic project is curated by Daniele Davino, while the text is by Elisa Rocca.

Bvlgari also contributes to the Christmas celebrations in Rome with an initiative that celebrates Piazza Augusto Imperatore. For a few months every day from 9 pm, the Roman Maison, founded in 1884 and protagonist of numerous acts of patronage to enhance the artistic heritage of the Eternal City, illuminates the facade of the Bvlgari Hotel - scheduled to open in 2022 - with lights and colors of an evocative video mapping overlooking two of Rome's most iconic monuments, the Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of Augustus. The light show begins like a metamorphosis of nature, inspired by Roman frescoes. It then envelops and decorates a contemporary and surreal reinterpretation of the Mausoleum.

On 21 and 22 April, Romaison celebrates the birth of Rome with a story dedicated to the legendary origin of the city in its most famous cinematographic transpositions. On Wednesday 21 April at 12.30, Clara Tosi Pamphili, curator of the project, retraces the Capitoline myth in cinema and costume; from the epic and imaginative reconstructions of the so-called sandaloni movies such as Romolo e Remo (1961) directed by Sergio Corbucci to the rigor of acting and of the historical and linguistic philology of proto-Latin in Il Primo Re (2019) by Matteo Rovere, awarded with the David di Donatello for Photography.

The celebrations are also an opportunity for close observation of the Ara Pacis, one of the most important masterpieces of Roman art, built between 13 and 9 BC. to celebrate the peace established by Augustus on the territories of the empire. The famous monument awaits you on the Facebook page of the Ara Pacis Museum with a new video taken with drone footage and suggestive images, showing the reliefs of the altar exceptionally in color.

At noon, the social channels of the Capitoline Superintendence for Cultural Heritage show an unpublished video of a virtual guided tour of the Aurelian Walls with the archaeologists of the Superintendency. The video presents for the first time two sections of the walkways, recently redeveloped and made accessible to visitors, in Via Campania and Viale Pretoriano.

Also this year, the Capitoline Superintendence organizes, in collaboration with the Centro Studi Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, a tribute to the greatest Roman poet, with a real reading marathon that sees experts, actors and citizens as protagonists, including Giorgio Tirabassi, Max Paiella, Paola Minaccioni, Francesco Acquaroli, Emanuela and Stefano Fresi, Massimo Wertmüller, Filippo Ceccarelli, Angelo Maggi, Stefano Messina, Maurizio Mosetti, Ariele Vincenti, Guido Marolla, Edoardo Sassi, Yari Gugliucci.