Rome used to die in the summer. Perspiring tourists picking their way around the sights were the only remaining flickers of life. Those locals not working in tourism had fled the sweltering heat for their family foothold in the hills, the southern beaches or abroad.
But Italy’s economy has languished in the doldrums for a number of years, and people have had to cut back on their holidays, with more Romans opting to stay at home for at least some of August. Out of these ashes, the Roman summer has sprung like a partying phoenix. It’s still too darn hot, but the city bubbles over with festivals, street parties, open-air opera, cinema, jazz, hip-hop, dub, salsa, dance, food markets and bars, all making use of the city’s unfeasibly beautiful settings.
Stay-at-home locals make it through the summer swelter by spending the weekends at nearby beaches around Ostia. Then people emerge like nocturnal butterflies as the heat begins to fade, dressed up and wandering out for an ice cream and the early evening passegiata (walkabout). For those who can’t get enough of the beach, there are bars where you can watch the sunset over an aperitivo (Milan’s hippest import – pre-dinner drinks accompanied by a bar-snack buffet) and free parties along the seafront after dark.
It’s not just the downturn that has reinvigorated the summer, but organizational developments. Since being elected in 2001, Mayor Walter Veltroni has been pursuing a policy that has made Rome more vibrant than at any time since the dolce vita of the ’50s. Take the annual big-name free concert outside the Colosseum. In recent years, Simon & Garfunkel, Elton John and Paul McCartney have played here. Another favored venue for big free concerts is Circus Maximus, where hoards turned up to cheer chariot races some 2,000 years ago; in 2005, it hosted the Rome Live 8 gig.
Festivals all summer
From June to September, the umbrella Estate Romana organization sets up a bewildering number of stunning events. Under its auspices, the usually empty Tiber river banks sprout market and food stalls. Bars bring in sand and deck chairs to make believe you really did make it to the coast. Diminutive Tiberina island, stacked with medieval buildings in the middle of the river, resembles a floating festival during sultry summer nights, hosting bands, theater, markets and an open-air cinema. Outdoor cinema also fills Piazza Vittorio, in Rome’s most multicultural sleazy – quarter, with vast screens dominating a huge colonnaded square.
In July, Cosmophonies puts on classical and contemporary dance, music and theater at the perfect little amphitheater in the extraordinarily well-preserved ancient Roman port of Ostia Antica, 25 kilometers southwest of the city. Festival EuroMediterraneo takes over Villa Adriana, Emperor Hadrian’s huge ruined palace, 31 kilometers northeast, from July to August, with theater, opera and dance. Inside the city, the Teatro dell’Opera holds its summer season in the ancient Roman Caracalla baths, a backdrop of unparalleled drama. The Miracle Players put on free open-air summer plays in English – “Julius Caesar” at the Roman Forum is a favorite.
Roma Incontra il Mondo (Rome Meets the World), June to August, is a world-music festival on the wild and lovely grounds of Villa Ada, alongside a small lake. With lights prettily bouncing off the water and the scent of hashish floating through the air, this is where Rome’s alternative set flocks, and where you should head if you want to hear Malian musicians or perfect your dance of death to the tarantella music of the Italian deep south.
All that jazz
For a more staid but equally spectacular evening, there’s the enchanting jazz festival at Villa Celimontana, a lush torch- and candle-lit garden shaded by tall parasol pines, with top performers sizzling nightly in July and August. Time to don your best black threads, sip Campari and nibble Italian delicacies while listening to smoky sounds.
Most of Rome’s nightlife moves outside all summer, with many clubs taking over unusual outdoor venues – nightclub La Maison’s beautiful people spent a recent summer season strutting their stuff on the terrace of Mussolini’s Palace of Justice. At the other end of the scale, Villaggio Globale is a squatter entertainment complex in a 19th-century slaughterhouse. In summer it spawns an encampment of outdoor clubs with a festival atmosphere – a “global village” a world away from the eternal city most visitors see.
The grand finale to the Roman summer is La Notte Bianca, bringing the whole city onto the streets in mid-September. The “White Night” was a Parisian initiative and is now a fixture in Paris, Brussels and Rome. For one Saturday there are free concerts, exhibitions and performances throughout the city, and bars, restaurants, shops, museums and galleries (including many not usually open to the public) stay open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Abigail Hole lives in Rome and has contributed to various Lonely Planet guides. She is working on Lonely Planet’s “Best of Rome.”
