Culture

When thinking of Rome one thinks of course of its past. From the times of the Roman Empire to the glory days of the Via Veneto in the sixties, Rome has always been at the center of the civilized world.

Of course Rome does not end there. Every day there are dozens of pop, jazz and classical concerts all over the city and its opera house is amongst the most famous ones in the world. There are several famous venues for the international stars (the Auditorium Parco della Musica, the Palalottomatica and, on  a smaller scale, Alexanderplatz or the Circolo degli Artisti) as well as lots of small places where interesting local artists get a chance to show their abilities.

Rome’s international film festival is beginning to get some recognition, but unfortunately for non-Italian speaking visitors to the city there is only an extremely limited number of places where it is possible to see movies in the original language.

Other yearly festivals include a jazz festival in June and a gospel festival in the days before Christmas.

Rome’s history, in a very small nutshell, is also dealt with in this chapter.