January 2025 in Rome: discover and experience Rome from 1 to 31 January 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 for the month of December, for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, 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 January

• New entries and special events in January

• Rome free/low cost in January

• The events of the Jubilee​ in January

• Rome with kids in January

• Do you know that…?

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

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

• Itineraries and curiosities: our tips for January 

 

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 January sponsored by Roma Capitale and/or of international importance, and choose from the exhibitions, sporting events, concerts, theater shows, festivals, ballets and dance performances scheduled until 31 January. Please note: information available in this section is being updated constantly.

New entries and special events

• Titina Maselli - A modernity and creative independence as an outsider, and a woman at that. Born in Rome in 1924 and brought up in a family very well integrated in the Roman cultural environment of the early decades of the 20th century, Titina Maselli was only 24 years old at her first solo exhibition in 1948. Her artistic adventure continued from there between Rome, New York, Austria and Paris, alternating painting with theatrical set design and costume design. Her unique vision and extraordinary career are recounted in the exhibitions organized by Casino dei Principi of Villa Torlonia and MLAC Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea of the Sapienza University of Rome for the centenary of the artist’s birth.
• Balloon Museum - Euphoяia-Art is in the Air - A unique itinerant contemporary art project, a world made of air, light and dreams that invites visitors, young and old, to jump, run, play and give space to their imagination. The Convention Center La Nuvola stages the lightness, interaction and communicative power of Inflatable art, with works by some of the greatest contemporary artists.
• The Remains of the Day. Imperial portraits from Hadrian’s Villa - Eleven Corinthian columns over 15 meter high dominate one of the city’s most evocative squares. Organized in collaboration with Istituto Villa Adriana e Villa d’Este - VILLÆ, the exhibition with free admission in the Temple Hall of Vibia Sabina and Hadrian in Piazza di Pietra, the historical seat of the Rome Chamber of Commerce since 1874, brings together ten portraits from Hadrian’s Villa that tell the story of the importance of the image in imperial propaganda.

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 5 January, 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. Please note: in some cases, reservations are required, so always check in advance the websites of the museums. On 26 January, 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.

Even in January, the city cultural and entertainment program offers events and activities at no cost. Examples include the exhibitions In a Light Breeze. Conversation Piece - Part X at the Fondazione Memmo, San Francesco, tra Cimabue e Perugino. Nel Giubileo con il Cantico delle Creature at the Palazzo della Minerva and Paola Gandolfi - Contrattempo in the Foyer of the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone; the open-air acoustic itinerary with pieces by Puccini, Respighi, Andrea Morricone and Ennio Morricone at the Portico d'Ottavia for the Monumenti sonori project; and the guided tour of the Casa Museo Alberto Moravia (11 January, reservation required +39060608). You can also find other suggestions on the cultureroma website.

The events of the Jubilee

In January, the rites of the Jubilee continue with the opening of the last two holy doors, at St Mary Mayor’s (on 1 January) and at St Paul’s outside the Walls (on 5 January). From 24 to 26 January, the Jubilee of the World of Communications is dedicated to journalists, media workers, managers and editors and, in general, to all communication professionals. From 16 January to 16 February, the Auditorium Conciliazione will host the musical “Bernadette de Lourdes”, a moving show on the story of the incredible Marian apparitions to the young Bernadette Soubirous. On 11 January, in St. Peter’s Square, it is possible to attend the Holy Father’s Jubilee Audience. Participants in the audience will be able to enter the Basilica through the Holy Door, even without registering on the registration portal. For audience tickets (free of charge), please contact the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. 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. Until 31 December 2025, a Tourist Infopoint inside the Auditorium Conciliazione will welcome tourists.

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 January 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…?

In May 1527, while King Charles V’s Landsknechts put the city to fire and sword during the famous Sack of Rome, Pope Clement VII avoided capture by walking through a covered passageway more or less eight hundred meters long between the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace and Castel Sant’Angelo. Probably created at the end of the 13th century to allow a rapid, protected and secret connection between the papal seat and the Castle, the Passetto (or Corridore de Borgo in the Roman dialect) was at least on that occasion a precious escape route. However, it is said that Pope Alexander VI Borgia also used it to meet his mistresses and its charm has spanned the centuries, even inspiring Dan Brown in his bestseller “Angels and Demons”. From 23 December, after a long restoration period, the Passetto welcome visitors (also in the evening) with guided tours that can be purchased on the museiitaliani.it platform or on the Musei Italiani app (from App Store or Google Play). The tours will also be accessible to people with mobility difficulties thanks to the new lift installed at the Torre del Mascherino.

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 January.

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.

 

• Imperial Ports of Claudius and Trajan - An archaeological area today surrounded by greenery that reminds us of the extraordinary Roman capabilities in the fields of trade, engineering and architecture. The story of the largest port of antiquity, a window on the Mediterranean for Imperial Rome, began with the immense harbor basin dominated by a lighthouse on an artificial island that Emperor Claudius had built north of the mouth of the Tiber. Some fifty years later Trajan entrusted his architect Apollodorus with the task of redesigning the harbor, which was too exposed to winds and storms and subject to gradual silting up. The new hexagonal inner basin was able to accommodate up to 200 ships of large tonnage: it was so perfect that it is still visible in satellite photos.
• Biblioteca Lancisiana - Personal physician to three popes and author of important studies in anatomy, pathology and epidemiology (on the correlation between mosquitoes and malaria, for example), Giovanni Maria Lancisi is one of the most interesting figures in early 18th century Italian medicine. His wide-ranging cultural project, which occupied him until his death on 20 January 1720, included the task of modernizing medicine and bridging the gap between theory and practice in medical training. In 1714, he inaugurated one of Italy’s first public medical libraries in the Santo Spirito hospital, to which he left his rich collection of volumes and manuscripts and an annuity to enable its maintenance. The Lancisiana Library still bears his name today.
• Tempio Maggiore - Great Temple - A unique and recognizable building with eclectic architecture and a large aluminium-clad pavilion dome. After 1870 and the end of the temporal power of the popes, together with full emancipation and equal civil rights, Rome’s Jewish community obtained permission to build a monumental synagogue that would stand out in any panoramic view of the city. Facing the Tiber embankment, in the area where the most miserable houses of the Jewish Ghetto had been piled up until 1885, the Major Temple has just celebrated its 120th anniversary: after three years of work, it was inaugurated in 1904 in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel III as a conspicuous symbol of the new pact with liberal Italy.

Itineraries and curiosities: our tips

• Bronze horse of Viale Mazzini - Nearly 5 meters high and weighing 25 quintals, the horse made by the Fonderia Battaglia Foundry in Milan under Francesco Messina arrived in Rome in 1966, crossing bridges, viaducts and tunnels of the Autostrada del Sole. During transport, its tail, which was too bulky, had been cut off and was reinserted on site. The sculpture had been commissioned two years earlier by the then Deputy Director General of RAI, Marcello Bernardi. Find out more on the dedicated page.
• Talking Statues - Poems and rhymes, invectives and ironic dialogues in Roman dialect. From the 16th century until 1870, six statues in the historic center of Rome became the anonymous voices of Roman political satire, with the task of mocking the misrule, malpractice and temporal power of the popes, denouncing the abuses and arrogance of the clergy and nobles without sparing the pontiff himself. Find out more on the dedicated page.

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