The Eternal City will celebrate its 2776th anniversary on April 21, 2023 with historical reenactments such as costumed parades in Coliseum And gladiatorial matches V Circus Maximus. More commonly known as Natale di Roma (Birthday of Rome), o institution’s annual celebration based on the founding of the city, which is said to have been made Romulus in 753 BC

For more than two decades Rome celebrates its birthday with spectacular events and parades organized by Gruppo Storico Romano, a drama group that re-enacts history by reenacting battles, Roman rituals and performing ancient theater and dance.

The theme of this year’s festival, which runs from April 20 to 23, is the Romans’ special relationship with water, the Regina Aquarium and the famous public fountains throughout the city. It will be preceded by a talk on the subject at the Ara Pacis Museum on 19 April.

On the evening of April 20, in the Campo Marzio square, in the historic center, there will be a ceremony of the rebirth of the sacred fire, followed by a reconstruction by Bendictio Urbi and a concert outside the Pantheon.

Birthday April 21, with costumed parades at the Colosseum and gladiator fights at the Circus Maximus.

The main events will focus on the Circus Maximus (Roman Hippodrome) from 21 to 23 April and will include gladiator workshops for children and live music.

There will also be a ditch-digging ritual known as the tracciato del solco, which commemorates the founding of ancient Roman cities when a ditch or mundus was dug and offerings were thrown into it for the gods to watch over the inhabitants.

Other performances include the village festival of Palilia. Palilia was a Latin pastoral festival celebrated every 21 April in honor of the goddess Pales, patroness of herds and cows, and included virgins distributing straw, ashes and blood from sacrificed animals before jumping three times over the fire, as well as consecrating the water that was drunk animals.

On April 22, the Circus Maximus will host a Harpastum match, an ancient ball game that came to Rome from Greece and is described by the organizers as the “ancestor of rugby”.

The highlight of the holiday will be a grandiose parade. This will take place on the morning of Sunday, April 23, and will pass through the Colosseum. In the past, about 1,500 people disguised as Hispanics participated in this parade.