Buon Compleanno, bella Roma!
This Saturday, April 21st, Rome will celebrate its 2,765th birthday. (Can you imagine being around that many years?!) This is based on the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC.
In case you’re not familiar with the legend, here is a brief overview. Romulus and Remus were twins. Their mother, Rhea, was a Vestal Virgin, and their father was a god (Mars, the god of war). Before they were born, male descendants in the family were killed by their Grandfather’s brother. When the twins were born, they were left to die. However, a she-wolf came along and nursed them. The boys grew up to become natural leaders. They decided to found a new city, but couldn’t agree on the exact location. The two quarrelled, and Remus was killed in the end. Romulus then founded the new city on the Palatine Hill, and named it after himself … Rome.To celebrate Rome’s birthday, the city will have plenty of events taking place throughout the weekend … music, dancing, theatre performances and ceremonies. For further information on the events taking place, you can check here (in English) or here (in Italian).Rome’s birthday will be celebrated with an extra bang this year. The bang will come to the people of Rome in the form of strikes! Strikes for buses, trains and flights. The scheduled sciopero (strike) details for each day are below.
Friday, April 20th – ATAC, Rome’s public transportation company, is scheduled to strike from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, then from 8:00 PM to end of service. This will include all buses, metro lines and light rail trains.
Saturday, April 21st & Sunday, April 22nd – Trenitalia is scheduled to have a 24-hour train strike from 9:00 PM Saturday to 9:00 PM Sunday.Monday, April 23rd – The personnel of Alitalia, Italy’s largest airline, will be on strike for four hours … from 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM. If you have a flight to/from Italy on Monday, it would be a good idea to check with the airline to make sure your flight plans will not be affected. Click here to access their website.Here’s to hoping the scheduled strikes don’t impact your travel plans or birthday celebrations too much.
Tanti Auguri e Buon Compleanno, Roma! Just in case you’re wondering, that translates to Happy birthday and many good wishes. 🙂
© copyright 2013 – All rights reserved