Rome will be the stage for the fifth national edition of the Night of the Archives, an event planned as part of the Archivissima festival. The event, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and organized in collaboration with the General Directorate of Archives, will see the participation of the Capitoline Superintendency alongside over 450 bodies and 22 thematic and territorial networks.
The 2024 edition of the Night of the Archives focuses on the theme of the Passions, offering a varied program that includes meetings and guided tours. In particular, the Capitoline Historical Archive will be the center of a special meeting on the occasion of the 175 years of the Roman Republic, while a traveling visit will touch some of the most fascinating districts of Rome.
Words and music at the Capitoline Historical Archive
On Friday 7 June, the Capitoline Historical Archive will open its doors for an evening dedicated to the theme of the Republican Passion. The event “Republican Passion. Papers and notes from the Roman Republic” will be held from 6.30pm to 9.00pm at Piazza dell’Orologio n. 4. The heart of the evening will be a meeting of words and notes that will recall the republican ideal of 1849 through the special participation of Maestro Nicola Piovani. Piovani will dialogue with a wind quintet of the Army Band, directed by Maestro Major Filippo Cangiamila, restoring life and sounds to a particularly vibrant historical period.
The event is not limited to words and music: in fact, an exhibition will be set up which will present relevant documents, some of which are unpublished, relating to the Roman Republic and preserved in the Institute’s funds. This exhibition will be open to the public until 9.00pm the same evening and, subsequently, during the Archive’s ordinary opening hours (9.00am-4.00pm Monday to Friday) until 31 August. An unmissable opportunity to immerse yourself in a past that continues to speak through its historical maps.
Guided tour of the historic districts of Rome
Parallel to the musical and literary event, a traveling guided tour called “Love, Politics, Debates, Madness, Art, Archaeology” will be organised. This journey aims to explore the theme of passions through the narration of historical episodes and the reading of suggestive passages. Curated by archaeologists and art historians of the Capitoline Superintendency, the itinerary will begin at the archaeological area of the Theater of Marcellus and will touch on various emblematic places of the Campitelli, Sant’Angelo, Regola and Pigna districts.
Among the highlights of the tour, in the Teatro di Marcello area the events of the love passion between Vittoria Colonna and Umberto Boccioni will be narrated, while in Piazza Mattei the famous Fontana delle Tartarughe will be discussed through legends, anecdotes and historical documents. Continuing towards Piazza Cairoli, participants will discover the monument to the irredentist Federico Seismit Doda, a prominent figure of the Risorgimento and minister of Francesco Crispi. Finally, the itinerary will end at the Sacred Area of Largo Argentina, where the intellectual “duel” between the archaeologist Giuseppe Marchetti Longhi and the architect Antonio Muñoz will be told.
Thematic insights and unpublished historical documents
The guided tour route is characterized by the in-depth analysis of rather intriguing intellectual themes. One of the peculiar episodes that will come to light concerns the discovery and museum creation of the complex of San Paolo alla Regola in the 1980s, which saw a sort of clash between the architect Italo Insolera and the archaeologist Lorenzo Quilici.
The historical narrative proceeds in a choral dimension where the stories of individuals intertwine with the emblematic places of the city. In fact, the route is not limited to famous places and monuments, but also touches on lesser-known aspects of the Roman heritage, revealing crucial steps in local history and the lives that have passed through it. This itinerary promises to transform a simple walk into a real experience of cultural discovery.
Useful information
The Night of the Archives will be held on 7 June 2024. The program includes two main events, both free but reservations required.
Republican passion. Papers and notes from the Roman Republic
- Location: Capitoline Historical Archive, Piazza dell’Orologio, 4
- Hours: 6.30pm-9pm
- Free entry while places last, reservation required on 060608
Love, Politics, Debates, Madness, Art, Archaeology
- Starting point: Archaeological area of the Theater of Marcellus
- Hours: 7.00pm-9.00pm
- Free event with reservations required on 060608, maximum 20 participants
