I just found out that it’s a little someone’s birthday this weekend!
On Saturday 21 April Rome celebrates her 2,765th Birthday and the occasion will be marked in various ways across the city.
I guess Rome and I have a few things I’m common (beauty of course being the obvious you say 🙂 No, thats not it). We both mark our birthdays this month and therefore share the same zodiac sign:-)
2,765 – Wow! She’s certainly getting on!
For me this city represents culture, art, beauty, history and complexity.
She is the city of seven hills. Was the capital of the Roman empire. One of the birthplaces of western civilisation. She has been ruled by emperors, kings and popes. The historic centre is a UNESCO protected world heritage site. Rome is unique, visited by many and loved by the world.
Happy Happy Birthday my Rome!
This article is courtesy of Wanted in Rome (www.wantedinrome.com) and details what’s on around town this weekend. Enjoy!
“The capital celebrates its 2,765th birthday on Saturday 21 April, based on the legendary foundation of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC, with a number of events taking place across the capital.
Members of historical dramatic society Gruppo Storico Romano are staging parades with gladiators, senators, vestal virgins and priestesses as well as re-enacting battles, historic events, and displays of ancient theatre and dance in the city centre.
The foundation of Rome will be marked at 15.00 on 21 April with a trench-digging ceremony at the Circus Maximus. Known as the “tracciato del solco” the ritual pertains to the founding of ancient Roman towns when it appears to have been standard procedure to dig a trench or “mundus” and throw offerings into it to encourage the gods to watch over the town’s inhabitants.
At 18.30 at the nearby Temple of Vesta, opposite the Bocca della Verità, the agricultural Palilia ceremony will be re-enacted. Dating back to before the founding of Rome, the ceremony was held in honour of the goddess Pales, protector of flocks and herds, and involved vestal virgins distributing straw and the ashes and blood of sacrificed animals before jumping over a bonfire three times.
An array of military bands will perform in the new-look Piazza S. Silvestro from 15.00-20.00. At 18.00, the Palazzo Braschi museum in Piazza Navona inaugurates the show “Cavour a Roma, Cavour e Roma”, and at 20.30 the Palazzo della Cancelleria holds an evening of music, singing and dancing courtesy of the Renaissance society “Tres Lusores”. Also at 20.30 there is a light show called “Le Stelle di Roma” in front of Trajan’s markets on Via dei Fori Imperiali.
On 22 April, the Gruppo Storico Romano stages an historical march in the Circus Maximus at 11.30.
The first-century BC historian Marcus Terentius Varro is credited with establishing the city’s date of birth, which he in turn based on a date ascertained by his friend, the astrologer, mathematician and philosopher Lucius Taruntius Firmanus. Although contemporary scholars are at loggerheads over the actual date, archaeological finds in recent years such as an eighth-century BC wall on the Palatine hill would seem to support the legend.
The city’s birthday has been marked annually since 1870.
For programme details see the Gruppo Storico Romano website www.gsr-roma.com, city website www.comune.roma.it or tel. 060608.”
Signing off from Rome,
Baci Maria
