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Culture NEWS
FREE MUSEUM SUNDAY
State museums and archaeological sites in Rome and across Italy will be open for free on Sunday 6 November as part of the Domenica al Museo initiative. The nationwide free entry scheme is held every first Sunday of the month in tandem with the monthly free entry for Rome’s city-run museums. This means that almost all museums and archaeological sites in Rome will be open for free this Sunday, however some museums such as Galleria Borghese require advance booking. There is free access to the archaeological areas of the Circus Maximus and the Imperial Fora (entrance at Trajan’s Column). The initiative also provides free access to temporary exhibitions currently underway in Rome’s museums, with the exception of the Lucio Dalla show at the Ara Pacis. The Italian culture ministry encourages the wearing of masks when visiting museums however it is not obligatory. Tourists in Rome should note that the Vatican Museums are closed on Sundays.
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CINEMA BARBERINI REOPENS AFTER TWO YEARS
Rome’s Cinema Barberini in the central piazza of the same name reopened on 20 October after being closed for more than two years. The historic venue has undergone renovation and will have a room dedicated to the celebrated Roman actor and comedian Carlo Verdone. The multiplex cinema, known for showing English-language movies, hosts six screens equipped with the latest technology, with a seventh screen set to be added over the next year. “They didn’t wait until I was dead to dedicate this tribute to me, so I can enjoy it while I’m alive” – Verdone told Rome newspaper Il Messaggero – “I’m happy to be part of a project that will help get people out of the house after the pandemic; rediscovering human contact is fundamental”. In addition to screening blockbusters, originallanguage movies and art-house films, the revamped cinema will host concerts, exhibitions, stand-up comedy and shows. The venue, which first opened as a cinema in 1930, also has a restaurant and will be open daily from 10.00 until midnight. The reopening of the Barberini movie theatre follows the closure of more than 100 cinemas in the Italian capital over the last decade. However it is not all doom and gloom for Roman cinemas: together with the Barberini, the long-closed Fiamma – located on nearby Via Bissolati – Is set to reopen next year in a project spearheaded by Italy’s culture ministry. A refurbished, state-of-the-art Cinema Troisi reopened in Trastevere a year ago in an ambitious venture by the Ragazzi del Cinema America, the collective of young cinema aficionados best known for the summer film festival in Piazza S. Cosimato.
MUSIC IN ROME MUSEUMS
Rome hosts Musei in Musica on 19 November.
Musei in Musica returns to the capital on the night of Saturday 19 November, with many of Rome’s city museums staying open late, from 20.00 until 02.00, to host concerts and live performances, with a symbolic entry fee of €1. In addition to the Capitoline Museums, Trajan’s Markets and Palazzo Braschi, the event includes less-visited venues including Centrale Montemartini, Napoleonic Museum, Museo Carlo Bilotti, Giovanni Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture, the Zoology Museum and the municipal Gallery of Modern Art.
