South of Giulio Agricola metro stop stretches one of Rome's best kept secrets – il Parco degli acquedotti –– as majestic in its way as the Colosseum but hardly a tourist in sight and not associated with mass bloodshed. There across Rome's campagna the Aqua Claudia is still striding strong, in places two arches high. No wonder Frontinus, curator aqu...

Alberto Sordi, the much-loved Roman actor, has been immortalised in a new mural in his native city on what would have been his 101st birthday. The giant homage to Sordi, who died in 2003, is located in the city's Garbatella district and was organised by Roma Cares, a charitable foundation of the football team AS Roma. The mural was unveiled on Via...

If you are a lover of the Italian way of life, do not miss a visit to San Martino al Cimino, a small architectural jewel, and best-kept secret, just a few kilometers from Rome. Wandering through the streets of this small village, you might have the sensation of coming across Donna Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj, sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X. A po...

Italy has performed the world's first heart transplants from COVID-positive donors to virus-negative recipients in Bologna and Rome, sources said Thursday. A 64-year-old man got a new heart at Bologna's Sant'Orsola Hospital and a 15-year-old boy received one at Rome's Bambino Gesù Hospital. The recipients did not get COVID after the transplants, ho...

Half of Italy's population will be living in white zones from next Monday says Italian health minister. Five more Italian regions and one autonomous province will be re-classified as 'white zones' - the lowest-risk category under Italy's colour-coded system of coronavirus restrictions - from 14 June. The regions of Emilia Romagna, Lazio (Rome), Lom...

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will sing Nessun Dorma at the opening Euro 2020 ceremony in Rome's Stadio Olimpico on Friday night. Bocelli will perform before the tournament's first match between Italy and Turkey at 21.00 on Friday 11 June. The opening ceremony will include a fly-past by the Frecce Tricolori fighter jets which fly in formation and em...

The city of Rome is full of ancient buildings and modern churches—including some sites that are both. Among the most magnificent historical houses of worship is the Pantheon. Built by the Romans likely as a temple or political space, the domed structure continues to fascinate engineers for its gravity-defying signature dome. The Pantheon is also a...

The author has a relationship with a city that he describes as magical. After living in Rome, he realized that everything in this place has a story: the people, the buildings, the statues, even the street corners. In this book he gathers these stories, having interviewed street performers, Romans, expats, historians and archaeologists. Reading thi...

Euro 2020 is finally here, a year late due to covid-19, with Rome among the 11 host cities staging the 51 fixtures of the long-awaited European football championship. The rescheduled tournament kicks off in Rome's Stadio Olimpico, when Italy faces Turkey on Friday 11 June at 21.00. In line with coronavirus protocols, the stadium will host 25 per ce...

In one of his masterpieces, Oceano Mare  (Ocean Sea), Italian novelist Alessandro Baricco describes an artist who painted the sea with sea water. I remember thinking, after reading the book for the first time, that there couldn’t be anything more poetic. Little did I know that, by looking into my own country’s long-lasting traditions, I was to enco...