Year 1860. The duchy of Parma with that of Modena and the Grand duchy of Tuscan voted some pebliscites for the union with the kingdom of Savoia. In the same year the Kingdom of two Sicilies (through the expedition of the thousand) and Romagna, Marche, Umbria besides Benevento and Pontecorvo, taken away quite easily from the State of the Church, were conquered “manu militari” by the piedmonteses.
The union process of the Italian state undergoes such a strong acceleration that on the 17th of March 1861 the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Kingdom of Sardinia approved the law that gives life to the unitary State. Victor Emmanuel II took the title of King of Italy and a new single nation was born, on the ashes of seven different states.
Year 2011, 17th March. Italy will be celebrated as it deserves in the hearth of its territory and of its history: in Rome. Celebrations will start on Wednesday the 16th in piazza del Campidoglio and will continue all night and the next day among theatre, music and fireworks shows and more.
The “ tricolour night” ( this is the name designated for the feast) was presented to the Capitoline Museums by all the public authorities involved: among others the Mayor Gianni Alemanno, the minister of defence Ignazio La Russa, the town councillor for the Culture Dino Gasperini, the Zetema President Francesco Marcolini and the superintendent to Cultural Heritage of Capital Rome, Umberto Broccoli.
The Mayor Alemanno talked about “a big and a beautiful feast which draws to strong values”, while the Minister Ignazio La Russa thanked Rome to be the city “that more than other Italian cities was engaged for the celebrations of unity”.
During the evening and the night museums, public palaces, cultural areas and libraries in the areas involved in the celebration will be opened: Piazza del Campidoglio, Via XX Settembre and Via del Quirinale, Piazza Venezia and Via dei Fori Imperiali, Piazza dei Cinquecento (Termini station) and Via Nazionale, Piazza Vittorio, Via Veneto, Corso Vittorio Emanuele to Castel Sant'Angelo, Trastevere, Via del Corso from Piazza Venezia to Piazza Colonna. The PIT (Tourist Information Points) in these areas will give information and a detailed program of the feast until 2 am.
Involved in the feast, and opened for special events the Civic Museums : Capitoline Museum of Rome in Trastevere, Museo di Roma Palazzo Braschi, Napoleonic Museum, Ara Pacis Museum of Ancient Sculpture Giovanni Barracco, Markets of Trajan. Likewise, the "thematic homes"of Capital Rome: House of Memory,of History, of Literature and Film. The Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Bank of Italy will be also exceptionally open to the public.The Ministry of Heritage and Culture opens the museums of Palazzo Barberini, Castel Sant'Angelo, the Diocletian Baths and the Theatre of Altemps. The province of Rome extraordinary opens Palazzo Incontro and the ruins of Palazzo Valentini, and the Vicariate of Rome opens the church of Saint Ivo alla Sapienza and leaves open in the night the New Church, the Ara Coeli, Saint Ignazio and Saint Andrea in Quirinale.
Then at midnight, at the Vittoriano, fireworks won't be missed but this only after the execution of Mameli Hymn, played by the Interforces band of the Ministry of Defence.
The entire program of the feast is available at the following link:
http://www.comune.roma.it/was/repository/ContentManagement/information/N1863840095/programma%20festa%20tricolore%20150%20anni.pdf
(Translated by Francesca Angelini)
