April 2025 in Rome: discover and experience Rome from 1 to 30 April 2025

Every month Rome dresses up in new colors, offering a wide range of different visiting opportunities: a rich cultural and entertainment program in a city with a millenary history that amazes for its majesty, but that also hides corners of beauty and treasures that are less known to the public. Discover with us the main events organized in Rome in April and follow the suggestions thought up by our editorial staff to experience and admire the city, even along less beaten paths.  

• Roma Live events in April

• New entries and special events in April

• Rome free/low cost in April

• Jubilee 2025: the events in April

• Rome with kids in April

• Do you know that…?

• The days of Rome: key dates in the city’s history and traditions in April

• The many facets of Rome: places of the ancient Rome, papal Rome and modern Rome to (re)discover in April

• Itineraries and curiosities: our tips for April 

Roma Live events

Roma Live is the calendar for experiencing Rome at 360°, a multimedia container dedicated to unmissable events for those living in the city and for tourists. Check here all the events for the month of April, and choose from the exhibitions, sporting events, concerts, theater shows, festivals, ballets and dance performances scheduled until 30 April. Please note: information available in this section is being updated constantly.

New entries and special events

• Amano Corpus Animae - A glimpse into the history of world animation and entertainment between Eastern and Western influences, tradition and innovation. With over 200 works on display, the exhibition hosted at Palazzo Braschi retraces the stages of Yoshitaka Amano’s 50-year career and pays homage to his unique style and his multifaceted and visionary production. This includes videogames and manga, anime and works for theater, fashion and fine art, books (for example with his work on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman) and American comics with the variant covers of Batman and Superman. Also on display are six plates never exhibited before in Italy, the result of the collaboration between Amano and the writer Michael Moorcock, author of the cult book of fantasy literature Elric of Melniboné, and unpublished illustrations from 2004 dedicated to Lady Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot on the occasion of Puccini’s centenary.

• Barocco Globale. Il mondo a Roma nel secolo di Bernini. Global Baroque. The world in Rome in Bernini’s century - A guest of Paul V, in 1609 the 73-year-old ambassador Ali-Qoli Beg, as a representative of the Persian Shah Abbas I, was able to admire many of the city’s wonders, even climbing to the top of the immense dome of St. Peter’s. However, he could not see the façade that Carlo Maderno would add a few years later to the basilica nor the colonnade with which Bernini would embrace the square. From 4 April, the exhibition hosted by the Scuderie del Quirinale and realised with the Galleria Borghese highlights the complex network of travels and relationships in 17th-century Rome. Gradually reinvented by the genius of Baroque artists and architects, Rome was a cosmopolitan city frequented by foreign visitors, clergymen and artists and the destination of ambassadors and missions from distant lands, from the Congo to Japan and the Americas. A surprisingly multi-ethnic and global universe enclosed within the walls of a city that, despite its many facets and contradictions, knew how to compose diversity of outlooks, knowledge and cultures. 

• Daniel Harding. Scenes from Goethe’s Faust - A masterpiece of Romantic music, the profound and intense secular oratorio Scenes from Goethe’s Faust (Szenen aus Goethes Faust) is the result of a long gestation that led Robert Schumann to add ever larger and more monumental pieces over time. In February 1844, while reading Goethe’s Faust during a convalescence, the German composer was thunderstruck by the last scene, with the transfiguration of Faust's soul. Begun as early as 1845, the oratorio was only completed in 1853, however, when a large introductory symphony was added to the scenes composed in previous years. On 11, 12 and 14 April, in the Sala Santa Cecilia of the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, the Music Director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Daniel Harding leads the Choir, White Voices and Orchestra of Santa Cecilia in the performance of Schumann’s challenging fresco on the struggle between good and evil, light and darkness. The vocal cast features Christian Gerhaher as Faust.

Rome free/low cost

An astonishing “open-air museum” is a perhaps overused expression but one that inevitably comes to mind when walking around Rome. Austere or sumptuously decorated churches and aristocratic palaces, courtyards and cloisters, elegant squares and secret piazzas, monumental fountains or curious-looking fountains, marbles and stones with a history stretching back thousands of years – even if you have a limited budget, the city does not skimp on its wonders. As for the sites and monuments that charge a fee, on 6 April, like every first Sunday of the month, both the national cultural sites and the museums run by Roma Capitale open their doors to the public free of charge. National museums and archaeological parks can also be visited free of charge on 25 April, Liberation Day. Please note: in some cases, a reservation is required, so always check in advance the websites of the museums. On 27 April, as on every last Sunday of the month, you can visit the Vatican Museums at no cost from 9 am to 2 pm (last admission 12.30 pm). On all other days, with the exception of Monday, you can explore 8 small museums with free admission – small but with valuable collections ranging from prehistory to ancient sculpture, from the Risorgimento to Napoleonic relics and modern and contemporary art. Generally once a month (from October to June) some institutional palaces also open their doors free of charge, for example Palazzo Chigi, the Casino del Bel Respiro at Villa Pamphilj and Palazzo Koch, headquarters of the Bank of Italy (on 12 April).

As always, the city cultural and entertainment program for the month of April offers events and activities at no cost. Examples include the exhibitions Richard Avedon - Italian Days at the Gagosian Gallery, Is it Sundown? at the Rhinoceros Gallery,  Supermostra’25_Roma at the Acquario Romano - Casa dell'Architettura,  Romani Design Fashion Art and Grandi collezionisti d’arte ungheresi - Inspired by Rome - collezione di Máté Dobos at the Hungarian Academy in Via Giulia, Con lo zucchero in bocca at the Istituto Svizzero in Via Ludovisi, Il giardino perduto di Carlo Levi at the Carlo Levi Foundation in Via Ancona; the second appointment of the Anteprime di Letterature Festival Internazionale di Roma (April 3, Javier Cercas in dialogue with Aldo Cazzullo and Sabina Minardi at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, booking recommended +39060608); the films of the Custodi di sogni - I tesori della Cineteca Nazionale festival (1-6 April) and the CreAzione festival (MAXXI, 6 and 13 April); the concerts in the jubilee church of Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi (5, 12 and 26 April), the Canti per la Settimana Santa 2025 in the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone (12 April) and Mozart all’Anima in the church of Santa Maria dell'Anima (20 April, during the Easter liturgy in Italian and German); the Earth Day 2025 celebrations at the Villaggio per la Terra of Villa Borghese (10-13 April, Terrazza del Pincio and Galoppatoio). For more tips, check the cultureroma and informagiovani websites.

Jubilee 2025: the events

In April, the Jubilee will continue with other events dedicated to specific categories: the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers (5-6 April), the Jubilee of Teenagers (25-27 April, with the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis during the concluding Sunday mass) and the Jubilee of People with Disabilities (28-29 April). On 2 April, a special Mass presided by Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin and open to all will be celebrated at St. Peter’s on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the return of Pope St. John Paul II to the House of the Father. The Holy See’s celebrations for Holy Week 2025 include as usual the Missa in Cena Domini (Thursday, 17 April), the evening Way of the Cross at the Colosseum (Friday, 18 April), the Easter Vigil (Saturday, 19 April) and the Easter Mass (Sunday, 20 April), concluded as usual by the urbi et orbi blessing. Easter will also see the completion of work on a new lighting system for St. Peter’s Dome, a more intense and evenly distributed light to enhance the architectural masterpiece designed by Michelangelo. Throughout the Jubilee year, the Pauline Rooms of the Vatican Apostolic Archive, exceptionally open to the public, will host the exhibition Jubilees. Rare Documents from the Vatican Collections (visit included in the Vatican Museums admission ticket). Until 27 April, in the cloister of the church of San Salvatore in Lauro it is possible to visit Uomini siate e non pecore matte, a free exhibition proposed by the Dicastery for Evangelization that explores the journey of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy through the illustrations of Gabriele dell'Otto and the commentary of Franco Nembri (closed on 20 and 21 April). On 16 April, the exhibition Un Ponte fra la Città Eterna e la Città Santa. Angeli dipinti di Luigi will be inaugurated in the church of Santi Giovanni Evangelista e Petronio dei Bolognesi (until 16 May). Until 15 May, the window gallery Conciliazione 5, in Via della Conciliazione, is hosting Beyond the Wall - Regina Coeli, with the 27 portraits created by the artist Yan Pei-Ming to give a face to those who live and work in the Roman prison; until 20 June, the headquarters of the Dicastery for Culture and Education in Piazza Pio XII, is hosting the exhibition Global Visual Poetry (visits by appointment), with over 200 works by international artists linked to the current of visual poetry. A sports event sponsored in April by the Holy See is the SPQR Cup youth football tournament (17-19 April). For more information and assistance in registering for the pilgrimage to the Holy Doors and the major Jubilee events, please contact the Info Point for the Jubilee 2025 in Via della Conciliazione 7. For tourist reception, two new temporary Tourist Infopoints, active until 31 December 2025, are also available for tourists, cultural operators and pilgrims: the Tourist Infopoint Auditorium Conciliazione (information and sales) and the Tourist Infopoint San Paolo (information only).

Rome with kids

Museums to explore, villas and gardens in which to run wild, educational workshops and readings to stimulate the imagination and creativity, theme parks, theatrical performances and much more... Rome is also a family-friendly city, a cheerful and colorful stage for every child. Discover all the events dedicated to children scheduled for the month of April and unleash your imagination among surprising adventures, journeys through history, interactive itineraries and guided tours. Our Kids page is updated weekly: visit us again for new ideas!

Do you know that…?

Small in stature, with a shorter shoulder, a pronounced nose and a voice with a masculine timbre, the 29-year-old Christina arrived in Rome 370 years ago, in 1655, on the back of her spectacular conversion to Catholicism. She had left the bitter Stockholm winter only the year before, having abdicated the Swedish throne (while retaining the title of queen) she had occupied since childhood on the death of her father Gustav II Adolf. Her official entry into a festively decorated city took place through the Porta del Popolo, renovated for the occasion by Gian Lorenzo Bernini with the heraldic symbols of the pope and Christina. While her conversion represented a resounding victory for the Church, her originality and non-conformism soon became a source of much concern for the popes. Gifted with a rare culture and equally strong-willed, she was reluctant to conform to social conventions (ever since her refusal to marry) and she was at the center of the chronicles and slanders that alternately described her as a “chaste and foolish” queen of the Amazons or as a woman with libertine habits and multiple lovers. Queen Christina of Sweden spent much of the next 30 years in the city of the popes, first at Palazzo Farnese, then at Palazzo Rospigliosi and finally at Palazzo Riario (today Palazzo Corsini alla Lungara, one of the two sites of the National Gallery of Ancient Art), where she died at dawn on 19 April 1689. The palace became the fulcrum of intrigues, diplomatic journeys and parties, and of extensive intellectual relations with scientists, artists and men of letters, but Cristina also looked after its park with passion and skill, enriching it with rare and exotic plants. In the large park that since 1883 has been home to the Botanical Garden of Rome, there are still some plane trees dating back to the time of the queen’s stay, together with botanical varieties from all over the world. These include, for example, the Japanese cherry trees: their blossoming can be admired in April during the Hanami all’Orto Botanico event. 

The days of Rome: key dates in the city’s history and traditions

Rites, festivals, anniversaries and celebrations have always marked the life of the city, its inhabitants and its visitors: a dense calendar of fixed happenings dating back to past eras, but also to the present day, that define Rome’s identity. Discover with us some of the city’s old and new special dates and moments, with the most heartfelt or awaited occasions – or even simply the most curious ones for the month of April.

The many facets of Rome: places of the ancient Rome, papal Rome and modern Rome to (re)discover

The pagan Rome that was the center of one of the largest empires that ever existed; the symbol city of the Catholic religion shaped by the successors on the throne of Peter; the new capital of the Kingdom of Italy and then of the Republic. The history of an eternal city is inevitably made up of multiple narratives that intertwine with one another. Each month, we will introduce you to three places that show the different imagines of Rome through the centuries. As reference time thresholds, we will take the 6th century (that is, when the bishops of Rome began to be not only the supreme voice of the Christian Church but also the highest guide of their city) for the Rome of the popes, and 1870 (the year of the Porta Pia breach) for modern Rome.

• Tomb of the Scipios - Its oldest and most monumental sarcophagus, now in the Vatican Museums, held the remains of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbato, consul in 298 BC. The tomb, entirely dug into the tufa rock on a hillside near the Appian Way, was however also in use by the descendants of the powerful republican family, which included among others the triumphant winner of the Second Punic War Scipio Africanus, Scipio Aemilianus and Cornelia, mother of the famous tribunes of the plebs Tiberius and Caius Gracchus. The tomb, which was discovered by chance at the end of the 18th century (although the first discoveries date back to the previous century) and become one of the destinations of the “Grand Tour”, is now part of the Monumenti del territorio network. This month, it opens to the public on Friday 4 April as part of the Speciale Giubileo events organized by the Capitoline Superintendence (with guides providing brief insights in Italian and English), on Saturday 12 April with a guided tour organized by the Capitoline Superintendence and on 30 April without a guided tour (booking required at +39 060608).

• Scala Sancta - Holy Stairs - The grooves carved into its 28 steps, to be climbed on one’s knees, are a tangible sign of the passage of generations of pilgrims since the year 1000. Tradition identifies them with those of Pontius Pilate’s Praetorium, trodden by Jesus before he was condemned to death and transported to Rome by Empress Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. At the end of the 16th century, they were still on the north side of the Patriarchium (the former official residence of the popes), before Pope Sixtus V asked his architect Domenico Fontana to move the Holy Stairs to where it stands today, in the middle of four other beautifully frescoed staircases. In 1724, the steps were covered with walnut wood, leaving some slits and portholes so that the original marble could still be seen. Since 1854, the sanctuary of the Holy Stairs has been guarded “in perpetuum” by the Passionists: the various initiatives scheduled for the entire jubilee year include the celebration of the Way of the Cross and the International Mass every Friday afternoon, except in July and August.

• Villa Osio - Casa del Jazz - The second life of an elegant and sober Roman villa from the early 20th century, transformed into a lively center for jazz music that celebrates its 20th birthday in April. Its story had begun in the late 1930s, when Arturo Osio, one of the founders of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, had taken over the ruins of a 17th-century farmhouse and entrusted the construction of the villa to engineer Cesare Pascoletti, a collaborator of Marcello Piacentini, commissioning the landscape architect Pietro Porcinai with the landscaping of the park. However, its interior and exterior elevations were heavily modified by the interventions and building abuses commissioned in the 1980s by the Banda della Magliana boss Enrico Nicoletti, who had bought it from the Vicariate of Rome. Seized and then definitively confiscated in 2001, the villa reopened on 21 April 2005 as the Casa del Jazz- House of Jazz, a multifunctional center with a rich calendar of events both indoors and, in summer, in the park.

Itineraries and curiosities: our tips

• Seven XS masterpieces - If the proverb is to be believed, “good things come in small packages”: when it comes to art, it is the proportions and the perfect balance between the elements that really count rather than the size. Although throughout its history Rome has often been accustomed to thinking “big”, from the Colosseum to St Peter’s basilica and the Vittoriano, the urban fabric also hides small-scale masterpieces that are just as spectacular and evocative, despite their diminutive size, or precisely because of it. Find out more on the dedicated page.

• The “fritto misto” fountain - Three tritons, a dolphin and an octopus clinging to each other, created by Mario Rutelli for the Fountain of the Najadi in Piazza della Repubblica. Shortly after its inauguration on 5 April 1911, with their usual mocking expressive effectiveness, the Romans renamed the sculptural group “fritto misto di Termini”, “fried seafood of Termini”. A more sober composition was thus placed in the center of the fountain, while the “fritto misto” was recycled two years later as the ornament of a simple basin in the gardens of Piazza Vittorio. Nevertheless, today it is one of the points of attraction of the Esquiline Itinerary of the Unexpected Itineraries project. Find out more on the dedicated page.

Copyright © All rights reserved