Estate Romana is no more: welcome, Romarama!

For those of you who are already familiar with Rome and its cultural scene, “Estate Romana” should ring a bell – it’s the name of the longest running event happening in the city. This year Estate Romana is completely different, and not just because of the Coronavirus emergency: it also has a brand new name, Romarama.

But first: what is Estate Romana anyway?

For those who do not recognize the name, on the other hand: this literal translation of “Roman Summer” is a mix of several different situations, from concerts to theatre plays, from exhibitions to open air markets, all happening during the summer season, which was started in 1977 by then councilman Renato Nicolini.

The people behind Estate Romana gifted us with concerts in archaeological settings like Caracalla or the Circus Maximus, were responsibile for the replica of the Globe Theatre in the Villa Borghese Park, invented the literature festival in the Maxentius Basilica, and so on and so forth.

Enter Romarama: summer events… until December

Roman citizens welcomed the news that the Estate Romana brand was being retired in favor of another, “cooler” concept with a mix of disbelief and, well, even rage. Why “kill” a concept that has been successful for more than 40 years?

Mayor Virginia Raggi, in presenting the new event, explained that she wanted for the city to go beyond what is now a given (ie., art and entertainment in public places): “Especially post-Covid-19, we intend not to centralize the cultural offerings but we wish to broaden their perspectives. I think it is an important moment of consciousness to go one step further”, she said.

Because of that one extra step, the events falling under the Romarama umbrella will continue until the month of December, to make the most of the mild weather in Rome, and will include both outdoors and indoors spaces: the city parks, for instance, such as Villa Torlonia, Villa Pamphili, Villa Borghese, but also the open air space at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Festivals will be back!

As part of the program, the MACRO Museum will offer free visits throughout its new “Tracce” group exhibition, while there is much anticipation for the Festa del Cinema di Roma and the Romaeuropa festival, covering movies and ballet/theatre/music respectively (both will begin in October).

Another must-visit space, for those in town, is the Teatro India, across the river from the Testaccio/Ostiense districts. Throughout the summer it will host movie screenings, dj-sets and a cocktail bar to die for while in the fall it will resume its indoors calendar of events.

More festivals will come back in the fall, particularly the Quadriennale, a popular art show taking place at Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

There are dozens of options every day, too many to list here: from concerts to movie showings, curious readers may want to peruse the daily program, viewable at Romarama.it (we are particularly loving the map!).