Capodarte returns to Rome: a rich free program of guided tours, music, cinema for Roman New Year's Eve

Rome Capodarte is back, the program now in its third edition, entirely free of charge, of cultural events distributed throughout the city that from the morning of Monday, January 1, 2024 will accompany theentire holiday season with a full calendar of concerts, guided tours, lectures, screenings, exhibitions, workshops, shows and activities for young and old. More than eighty initiatives in about fifty spaces, including the Civic Museums and other exhibition spaces of Roma Capitale, as well as municipal libraries, theaters, cinemas and many cultural venues exceptionally and free of charge open for the occasion.

Roma Capodarte ushers in an important year for the city of Rome as it prepares to host the XXV edition of the World Congress of Philosophy entitled Philosophy across Boundaries in the summer, from August 1 to 8. This year’s edition of the Capitoline event is thus meant to be a kind of introduction to philosophical themes: scholars, academics and important cultural figures will in fact be guests on January 1 and will animate numerous meetings and conferences on themes inspired by the city of Rome, its history and the countless insights offered by today’s cultural life.

With the hope that peace will spread throughout the world, putting an end to all wars, Rome will symbolically light up from December 21 to January 7, thanks to the project ROMA, ARTIST’S LIGHTS FOR PEACE, a reflection on contemporary issues and peaceful coexistence. There will be five light installations of ROMA, LUCI D’ARTISTA PER LA PACE, created by five artists in as many places in the city, between the center and the suburbs: Mimmo Paladino at Piazza della Minerva with the work Natura primitiva, Marco Tirelli at Piazza Borghese with the work Senza Titolo, Pietro Ruffo at Piazza Sant’Ignazio with the videomapping The Shape of Peace, Marinella Senatore at Piazza San Pantaleo with We rise by lifting others and Fulvio Caldarelli at Corviale with Love 2023, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva.

The project is promoted by the Assessorato alla Cultura and the Dipartimento Attività Culturali di Roma Capitale, under the care of the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali and the organization of Zètema Progetto Cultura. Info at www.comune.roma.it.

These artistic illuminations will also be joined by the Artika - Of Snow and Ice project produced by KIF Italia under the artistic direction of Francesco Mazzei and Giuliano Gasparotti. On the façade of the BASILICA DEI SANTI PIETRO E PAOLO at Eur, works by great artists from the history of art united by their interest in the water element in its crystallized form will be projected from 6 to 10:45 p.m. In a five-act multidimensional journey accompanied by original music by maestro Furio Valitutti, masterpieces by Michelangelo, Pollaiolo, Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, Monet, Van Gogh, Munch, Kandiskij and Chagall will be reviewed.

The program of events of Rome Capodarte 2024

Guided tours and lectures

With a focus on philosophy, the main theme of this year’s edition, the following program of meetings, guided tours and conferences has come to life within the Sistema Musei di Roma Capitale and other prestigious city spaces.

At the Capitoline Museums one can follow the philosophical meeting Another Voice. Women, Language and the Polis, at 5 p.m., curated by Fabrizia Giuliani and the guided tour Philosophical Painting in the Capitoline Collections at 6 p.m. (in the Pinacoteca), curated by Caterina Volpi. It will be possible to delve into the exhibitions The Submerged. Rome Oct. 16, 1943, with the four visits at 4:30 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 6 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. curated by Lia Toaff and Yael Calò, and Phidias thanks to the double visit, 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., curated by Alessandra Avagliano.

At the Mercati di Traiano, at 5 p.m., we will explore The Two Faces of Augustus. Imperial Culture and Ancient Enlightenment, thanks to the support of Paolo Quintili. Double appointment at the Museum of Rome: at 1, scheduled the visit Fashion and Taste in the portraits of Tenerani - discovering a precious gipsoteca curated by Rita Randolfi while at 6 p.m., with Ilaria Miarelli Mariani, we will get to know Feste e giochi al Museo di Roma up close.

In connection with the major exhibition dedicated to photographer Helmut Newton, the Ara Pacis Museum will host at 5 p.m., in the Auditorium, the lecture Image and Seduction. Philosophy of Photography, held by Aesthetics lecturer Daniela Angelucci, while on the monument floor the appointment is at 5:30 p.m. to delve into the history of the altar with Lucia Spagnuolo.

At Centrale Montemartini, at 5:30 p.m., Professor of History of Ancient Philosophy Emidio Spinelli will hold the philosophical meeting Defending Gaia: for a philosophical sustainability, accompanied by readings of texts performed by actors Paola Cataldi, Luca Siciliano and Marta Siciliano. And again, at 5 p.m., appointment at the Civic Museum of Zoology for the conference From Animal Communication to Human Language, by Francesco Ferretti, professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science of Language.

Also rounding out the offerings in the Civic Museums is a full schedule of guided tours available to museum visitors not involved in other entertainment or educational activities.

Beginning with the works of Don McCullin, currently on display at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, Stefano Velotti’s in-depth study Art and Control: photography, dedicated to the countless uses of photography and its contagiousness to other arts, will come to life inside the space on Via Nazionale, starting at 5 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., however, Logic and Philosophy lecturer Teresa Numerico will investigate the role of data in research and more in her talk Time Machines - What Relationship Between Observations, Data and Predictions?

At the Slaughterhouse, appointment in the company of Marco Delogu, who at 5:30 p.m. will guide visitors to discover the exhibition The Places and Words of Enrico Berlinguer. At the National Institute of Roman Studies, a guided tour is planned at 6 p.m., by appointment only, entitled A Treasure of the Institute, to explore the former convent of Saints Boniface and Alexius on the Aventine and discover the activities carried out by the Institute.

Also, curated by the Opera House Foundation, there will be the opportunity to access the Teatro Costanzi from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. with a program of special visits developed in collaboration with Osservatore di Strada and Binario 95, two shelter communities for people on the margins of society. They will be the ones to welcome the audience by telling the story of the theater and their own personal stories.

Another event, the lectio magistralis Two or Three Things I Know About Her. Fragments and Ruins of Rome, Between Ancient and Late Antiquity, by the Fondazione Teatro di Roma to be held at 3:30 p.m. on the stage of Teatro Argentina. With the analysis of numerous passages from ancient authors and with the comfort of the most recent archaeological acquisitions, the director of the National Institute of Roman Studies Massimiliano Ghilardi and archaeological journalist Andreas M. Steiner will try to shed light on the Rome of the so-called “dark ages.”

Music

The Capitoline Museums will host, at 12 noon in the Marcus Aurelius Exedra, the performance Dialoghi sinfonici - L’ora della danza by the Europa InCanto Orchestra, the symphonic ensemble directed by maestro Germano Neri, which will accompany the public to discover the great ballet music; while the Museum of Rome will present in the courtyard, at 12 noon, the concert curated by Federcori and Fondazione Musica per Roma entitled Millevoci. Between Italy and Argentina, a journey in popular auteur music, and in the Hall of Honor, the Grand Tour concert with the Enea Barock Orchestra, which, at 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.45 will perform eighteenth-century instrumental masterpieces in a symbolic itinerary along the milestones of that mythical journey to Italy, a source of inspiration for eighteenth-century artists and scholars; the Ara Pacis Museum will see the chamber ensemble of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia perform Vivaldi, 2 out of 4, two concerts dedicated to the music of the Venetian master, at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., in each of which two of Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons will be performed.

A tribute to composer Astor Piazzolla will come to life at the Museo di Roma in Trastevere thanks to pianist Domenico Balducci. His concert Il mio Piazzolla, scheduled at 4, 5 and 6 p.m., will review the Argentine composer’s finest compositions.

Dedicated to the great romantic compositions will be the double talk scheduled at the Roman Aquarium - House of Architecture entitled From the Hero to the Romantic - Beethoven and Mendelssohn. The Roma Tre Orchestra conducted by Maestro Sieva Borzak, together with pianist Maurizio Baglini, will offer the audience excerpts from two great works of the genre: Beethoven’s The Emperor and Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides.

In contrast, a concert completely dedicated to the most beloved Christmas melodies will be Daily Classics - New Year’s Eve Version, scheduled at the Lido Theater in Ostia at 4 and 5:30 p.m. Mozart, Bizet, Brahms, Cohen, Miller are just some of the names of composers included in the musical program performed by the Europa InCanto Ensemble.

From one stage to another, at the Tor Bella Monaca Theater it will be the turn of the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta to welcome 2024 with its own New Year’s Concert - From Pop Songs to Strauss Waltzes. Brahms’ Hungarian dances, Strauss’ Viennese waltzes and the famous operatic pieces from Marcello Panni’s 16 Popsongs will be on the setlist.

Also unmissable is a wide range of concerts by the Fondazione Musica per Roma. At 4 p.m. at the Auditorium Parco della musica Ennio Morricone, more than a hundred choristers belonging to Federcori together with Orchestra Xilon will come together to perform the best film music and lesser-known musical pages written by Ennio Morricone.

Also under the banner of music and peace are some appointments in Rome’s Libraries. The Goffredo Mameli Library will host the performance Arrampicarsi, with live readings and songs in two voices by Cristian Ceresoli and Silvia Gallerano (4:30 to 7 p.m.). The Guglielmo Marconi Library will host the InCanto di pace event consisting of the Leggiamo L’Opera workshop for children ages 7 to 12 (4:30 pm) and the InCanto di pace workshop-concert by Maestro Germano Neri, director of the Europa InCanto Ensemble (5:30 pm); while at the Galline Bianche Library, scheduled is the concert workshop Strumenti di pace by the brass ensemble of the Fontane di Roma Youth Orchestra (4:30 pm to 7 pm)

Finally, musical entertainment will continue around the city with several itinerant appointments or in other significant places: at 12 noon, the appointment is both in Piazza del Campidoglio for the concert curated by Federcori and Fondazione Musica per Roma entitled Millevoci. Anno Novo - Italian Folk Music of the New Year by the vocal and instrumental group Cimbali d’Amore, and in Piazza di Spagna for the New Year’s Concert by the Musical Band of the Local Police Corps of Roma Capitale; while at 1:30 p.m., in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto in Piazza del Popolo, there will be a concert by the Nebraska Youth Orchestra. Still Piazza del Popolo will be one of the places affected, along with Villa Borghese and the streets of the trident, by the Roma Parade, which returns to parade from 3:30 p.m. on January 1 involving some of the most prestigious American marching bands, as well as Italian folk groups, majorettes and street performers.

Involving all fifteen city halls of Rome, then, will be the Millevoci musical project, organized by Federcori and Fondazione Musica per Roma. In every corner of the city, choral formations and instrumental groups of different types will perform, starting at 5:30 p.m., fifteen concerts dedicated to all kinds of music: from ancient to modern, from gospel to pop, from Roman to Latin American.

Finally, from 9 to 11 p.m., an evening of jazz in the Trastevere Municipal Youth Center, with the Jazz in Time concert performed by international guests, such as Greg Hutchinson (drums) and Ameen Saleem (bass), on stage together with Domenico Sanna (piano) and Francesco Fratini (trumpet).

Cinema

For movie lovers, the top venues for January 1 are the Casa del Cinema in Villa Borghese and the Nuovo Cinema Aquila. The Fondazione Cinema per Roma’s space will offer a double screening: at 5 p.m., for the Winter Tales festival, Quentin Tarantino’s film The hateful eight will be shown, while at 8:30 p.m. Gianni Zanasi’s latest film War - La Guerra indesiderata. In the Pigneto cinema hall, however, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a meeting with the public Diamo i numeri in which director Domenico Vitucci will present the titles of the 2023/2024 season. This will be followed by a sound improvisation performance by Marcello Fraioli, aka Spectre.

Children

Space for family fun at the Pelanda del Mattatoio di Testaccio where, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Pacifico Playground will come to life, a space curated by the Fondazione RomaEuropa and Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, where people can play with movement, creativity and sounds through performances and shows by artistic collectives such as Animazioni pedagogiche, Circosvago and Marlon Banda. Opening the event is a touring performance with poetic acrobatics by the Flaan Collective.

Bringing young audiences closer to the languages of video art is the purpose of MACRO Loop, the MACRO’s initiative that will take the form, from 4 to 7 p.m., of a double cycle of video projections in continuity inside the Cinema Hall and in the Auditorium. In the same museum spaces, at 4:30 p.m., the workshop for children and adults Perceptual Exploration will also be held. After taking photographs in the different rooms, participants will construct a narrative through images in the company of the operators of Untitled and the Department for Preventive Education.

Two philosophical workshops curated by Lo Sguardo e la Voce are also scheduled in the new Study Room of the Museum of Rome at Palazzo Braschi: at 3:30 p.m. Friendship: discovering the value of human relationships will introduce children ages 7 to 10 to the importance of friendship through the reading of a text and the elaboration of drawings and philosophical thoughts; at 5.30, The Ideal City will sensitize children ages 10 to 13 to the topic of living with nature by inviting them to imagine an ideal city through readings, group discussions and the development of drawings.

Aimed at children ages 3 and up is the puppet and actor theater show L’Ottomolo - Discovering Fantastic Animals scheduled at 12 noon at the tTeatro di Villa Pamphilj. Accompanied by a curious gnome, children will meet wild animals that will help them discover the secrets of this mysterious creature.

There are numerous activities for children and young people within the Municipal Libraries. They range from readings and peace workshops of the initiative Bridges of Paper - Books and Art for Peace by the Artludik Cultural Association scheduled from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the Giordano Bruno, Joyce Lussu and Sandro Onofri libraries (ages 4 and up). Curated by Latitudo Art Projects, however, will be the art workshops offered in the Franco Basaglia Library and the Pier Paolo Pasolini Library. In the former, I colori del mondo (The colors of the world) will come to life, the workshop with which Gaia Scaramella will guide children aged 6 to 11 to discover the concepts of equality and diversity, in order to become citizens of the world (at 4 and 6 p.m.). In the Spinaceto library, on the other hand, there is a double appointment for children aged 6 to 11: at 4 p.m., A World for All and at 5:30 p.m. with Thus as We Are. The way we are, both inspired by Calvino’s The Rampant Baron.

Finally, at the Ennio Flaiano Library, the workshop Eco-Jenga! The game of environmental balances to learn about typical animal and plant species in a city park (from 4 years).

Capodarte initiatives are promoted by Roma Capitale, Assessorato alla Cultura, under the coordination of the Cultural Activities Department, in collaboration with the Istituzione Biblioteche di Roma, the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali and the institutions of the Technical Table for Contemporary Cultural Production: Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Fondazione Cinema per Roma, Fondazione Musica per Roma, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, Fondazione Romaeuropa, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Fondazione Teatro di Roma; and then again: Acquario Romano - Casa dell’Architettura, Trastevere Municipal Youth Center, National Institute of Roman Studies, Municipio Roma IX Eur, Nuovo Cinema Aquila, Teatro del Lido, Teatro Tor Bella Monaca and Teatro Villa Pamphilj. Organizational support from Zètema Progetto Cultura.

All information for the public and how to access is available at www.culture.roma.it/romacapodarte, or on social profiles with #RomaCapodarte2024.

Capodarte returns to Rome: a rich free program of guided tours, music, cinema for Roman New Year's Eve

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