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When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint Them: How Rome's artists are coping with quarantine during Italy's Coronavirus lockdown. Artists are unpredictable by nature and respond to sudden change in deeply personal ways. So after the Italian government introduced a nationwide lockdown in early March, due to the Covid-19 emergency, the forced confinement ha...

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Certain secrets of the Colosseum are too unsettling to include in the average travel brochure. There are myths that even had its architects afraid. Not everything is dark about this ancient landmark though. It’s got quite the redemption arc that isn’t covered the same way that the gore and bloodshed are. The Colosseum has managed to stay relevant f...

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Museums and palaces may be closed, but the online world is more open than ever. Many cultural institutions in Italy are coping with the nationwide lockdown by opening their virtual doors to the public, offering alternative ways to see their art and architecture and to savor the culture through online tools, such as virtual tours, YouTube videos, en...

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Raphael died in Rome 500 years ago today. Rome was to have been the focal point in the global celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the death of the High Renaissance artist and architect Raphael, hosting an "unprecedented" exhibition, the greatest Raphael show the world had ever seen. The Raphael exhibition saw a boom in the purchase of pre-sale...

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Carbonara, one of the signature dishes of Roman cuisine, will still be celebrated with the annual #CarbonaraDay on Monday 6 April, despite Italy's Covid-19 emergency. The difference with the 2020 edition, however, is that the action moves from restaurants to social networks in a virtual marathon dedicated to the much-loved Roman dish, according to...

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Across Italy, music has been connecting people as 60 million have been confined to their homes. At the end of the first week of the national lockdown, an initiative was launched in Rome which touched the whole country. Brass collective Fanfaroma’s Flash Mob Sonoro urged people to “open the windows, step out onto the balcony and play together”. Some...

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The three colours of the Italian flag, green, white and red have been appearing on monuments all over Italy, as well as abroad, to support the country during its COVID-19 crisis. In Rome three key monuments are lit up at night, the government's offices at Palazzo Chigi, the Senate and the Campidoglio, the centre of Rome's city government. They will...

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Doctors and nurses at the Casalpalocco hospital on Rome's outskirts mill silently around coronavirus patients lying motionless on their beds surrounded by machines monitoring their vital signs. Medical staff adhere to strict security protocols. Each is clad from head to foot in a hooded white protective suit, hands ensconced in latex gloves while a...

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Films have always offered a kind of escapism. From vintage classics to modern cinema marvels, movies about Rome can transport you to the Eternal City from anywhere in the world.  Not only is Rome ridiculously picturesque, but the city also has a long tradition with filmmaking. It has been the set of some of Italy’s most celebrated classic films as...

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Rome’s Stadio Olimpico will be silent this weekend. It was to have been the setting for Italy’s Six Nations match against England but this was called off as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and as part of a wider cancellation of all top-level sport in the country. Sixty years ago, the Italians were making ready to welcome the world to the Olymp...

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