March 16-17th will be a colorful night throughout Italy, as it’s La Notte Tricolore (the three-colored night) in celebration of Italy’s 150 year birthday as a unified country! The 3 colors in mind then are of course those of the Italian flag: Green, White, and Red. Monuments and public buildings all around will be decorated then accordingly, and Italy is inviting everyone else to follow suit as well and decorate their homes, windows, shops, etc. The streets will be filled with performance artists and parades, and there’s also to be musicals, and special lectures. All of the events around this Notte Tricolore are completely free.
You might actually be surprised to hear that it is just the 150 year birthday of Italy as a nation. Maybe due to the rich and ancient history of this boot-shaped peninsula, we might assume it’s much “older” than it actually is! Before this official “Risorgimento”, unification, Italy had a long history of being divided up into completely separated territories, with the main players just preceding the unification being Pre and Post-Napoleonic France, the Austrian Empire, the Holy See, and the Kingdoms of Sardia, Tuscany, Naples, and Sicily among others. The process was not overnight, but took many years, starting around 1815 and ending in 1871. Some of the more prominent revolutionary figures were Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibladi. Some more conservative players were the Count Cavour and Victor Emmanuel II (who actually ended up becoming the first King of Italy once it was united). Nowadays you will see plenty of monuments and streets around Italy with these famous names, and now you know why! Anyways, it was a very complicated and difficult process, you can read all about it as well as see some maps of the process throughtout history on the Italian Unification Wikipedia page.
The streets which will be hosting the festivities in Rome will be the Piazza del Cinquecento (the bus area infront of Termini), Via XX Settembre, from Via del Quirinale to Piazza Venezia, Piazza Venezia and Piazza del Campidoglio, Via dei Fori Imperiali, Via del Corso and Piazza Colonna.
Additionally museums, libraries, and other cultural spots will be open special night hours including the Capitoline Museums, the Museums of Rome (Palazzo Braschi and in Trastevere), the Napoleonic Museum, the Ara Pacis, the Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco, Trajan’s Markets, the Scuderie del Quirinale, Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Altemps, Castel Sant’Angelo, and part of the Museo delle Terme di Diocleziano
For a complete listing of all the events and shows, as well as their locations and times, take a look here at the Notte Tricolore Cumne di Roma webpage.