EVENTS

Public Holidays

8 Dec - Feast of the Immaculate Conception
1 Nov - All Saints Day
15 Aug - Feast of the Assumption
29 June - Feast of St Peter & St Paul
6 Jan - Epiphany
1 May - Labour Day
25 Apr - Liberation Day
25 Dec - Christmas Day
26 Dec - Feast of St Stephen
Mar/Apr - Easter Monday

Festa di Santa Francesca Romana (March 9), Santa Francesca Romana. Blessing of the city's cars, buses and trams.

Festa di San Giuseppe (March 19), Trionfale area. St. Joseph's (and Father's) Day. Street stalls, food, and music.

Good Friday (March/April - date varies in relation to Easter Sunday), Colosseum. Procession of the Cross at 9:00 p.m. led by the pope.

Rome's Birthday (Sunday before April 21), Piazza dei Campidoglio.

Festa della Primavera (March/April), Piazza di Spagna and Trinita dei Monti. Azaleas in the street and concerts.

Art Exhibition (April/May), Via Margutta.

International Horse Show (early May), Villa Borghese.

Antiques Fair (mid-late May), Via dei Coronari.

International Tennis Championships (late May), Foro Italico.

Flower Festival (June, the Sunday after Corpus Domini), Genzano, Castelli Romani, south of Rome. Streets are carpeted with flowers.

Festa di San Giovanni (June 23-24), Piazza di Porta San Giovanni. Celebrated with meals of snails in tomato sauce, suckling pig, a fair, and fireworks display.

Roma Europa (late June-late July), mainly in Villa Medici. Films, dance, theater, and concerts.

Festa di San Pietro (June 29), many churches. Celebrations mark the feast of St. Peter.
Expo Tevere (end June-mid-July), along the Tiber. Arts and crafts, food and wine, music and fireworks.

Festa de Noantri (last two weeks in July), the streets of Trastevere. Feating, processions and entertainment.

Arts Outdoors (July/August), Baths of Caracalla, Villa Ada, Ostia Antica, by the Tiber, in parks. Opera, concerts, drama, and film.

Festa della Madonna della Neve (August 5), Santa Maria Maggiore. Legendary 4th century fall of snow re-enacted with showers of white flower petals.

Ferragosto (August 15), Santa Maria in Trastevere. Midsummer Roman holiday. Almost everything closes down. Celebrations are held for the Feast of the Assumption.

Art Fair (September), Via Margutta.

Sagra dell'Uva (early September), Basilica of Constantine. Harvest festival with grapes selling at bargain prices and lots of folksy street entertainment.

Crafts Fair (last week September/first week October), Via dell'Orso, near Piazza Navona.
Antiques Fair (mid-October), Via dei Coronari.

Festa di Santa Cecilia (November 22), Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and Catacombs of San Callisto.

Vino Novello Tasting (late November), Campo de' Fiori.

Festa della Madonna Immacolata (December 8), Piazza di Spagna. Firemen climb up a ladder to place a wreath on the statue of the Virgin Mary.

Befana (mid-December-mid-January), Piazza Navona. Christmas and children's market.
Nativity Scenes (mid-December-mid-January), many churches. Life-sized scene in St. Peter's Square, collection at Santi Cosma e Damiano.

Midnight Mass (December 24), at most churches.

Christmas Day (Decmeber 25), St. Peter's Square. Blessing by the pope.

New Year's Eve (December 31), all over Rome. Fireworks displays, furniture thrown out.