Top 5 Music Festivals Not to Be Missed

5 Music Festivals Not to Be Missed

Audience at an open-air music festival, image by Free-Photos sourced from Pixabay

One of the unquestionable advantages of living in a city like Rome is its climate: summer really lasts longer than what the calendar says.

This means that the city hosts a number of open-air events for several months on end, from movie showings to live history lessons, from crafts markets to food fairs. And while Rome can never be Glastonbury, this also means that any music festivals happening in the Urbs Aeterna at this time take place in special locations: it’s an unmissable time of the year if you’re planning on visiting!

What follows are five of my favourites field days, from huge crowd pleasers to more relaxed settings.

1. Rock in Roma @ Capannelle

The Rock in Roma festival, photo by Sabrinasa sourced from Wikimedia Commons

11 years old and going strong, this is undoubtedly the biggest music festival around and it attracts music lovers from the south of Italy and even abroad. Rock in Roma makes great use of the nowadays underused racetrack at Capannelle, by the Appian Way, where its main stage is, but other shows have been taking place at the Roman amphitheater at Ostia or at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Over the years, a combination of international artists and Italian glories have been performing on its stages, including such names as Metallica, Muse, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Franco Battiato, Subsonica, Caparezza. This edition saw such headliners as Kraftwerk, James Blake, Thirty Seconds to Mars or Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, but events will continue until the beginning of August.

The Rock in Roma festival mainly takes place at Ippodromo delle Capannelle, Via Appia Nuova, 1245. More concerts will be held at the Anfiteatro Romano di Ostia Antica, on Viale dei Romagnoli, 71. Tickets prices range from roughly 13 Euros to 56 Euros.

2. Roma Summer Fest @ Parco della Musica

The “cavea” open-air theatre at the Parco della Musica, photo by Musacchio/Ianniello sourced from Auditorium.com

Before closing down during the month of August in preparation for the new indoors season, the massive, modern complex at Auditorium Parco della Musica, in the Flaminio district, relocates to its open-air theatre, where it sets up a range of different events including concerts, art events, theatre plays, comedy shows and more: the Roma Summer Fest.

It’s a more intimate setting compared to the huge crowds that gather at Rock in Roma, however the world’s main music stars have all performed here: from Bob Dylan to The Beach Boys, from Elton John to the late Lou Reed. Their presence is a testament to the venue’s role as one of the city’s main spaces for all kinds of music (imagine somewhere in between New York’s Lincoln Center and Le Zénith in Paris, if you can!).

This year’s headliners at Roma Summer Fest are Radiohead’s Thom Yorke as well as Italy’s very own Gigi Proietti, a comedian-director extraordinaire.

More concerts appearing on the music festival’s bill are held at Casa del Jazz (“The House of Jazz”), on Viale di Porta Ardeatina, 55 (close the Baths of Caracalla): also a place that’s not to be missed for extraordinary entertainment.

In this case, the setting for this section of the festival is Villa Osio, formerly belonging to Enrico Nicoletti, one of the heads of the criminal organization dubbed “Banda della Magliana”, which operated in Rome between the Seventies and the early Eighties. In what was a groundbreaking court ruling, the mansion was seized and given back to the community and now houses an auditorium of its own, a library, a recording studio.

A word of caution if you wish to attend the Rome Summer Fest: whether indoors or outdoors, concerts at “the Auditorium”, as it gets called for short, tend to start rather early, by Roman standards, and the organizers are strict about it.

There are instances of people showing up at the festival a few minutes after 9PM who have been refused access because the gig had already begun, so my recommendation is to reach the venue early, just to be on the safe side. While you wait you can enjoy a drink at one of its three bars!

ACCESS FROM Via Pietro de Coubertin, 30. Tickets prices average around 25 Euros per person per show.

3. Roma Incontra il Mondo @ Villa Ada

The setting of the Villa Ada festival as it appears to onlookers, image sourced from villaada.org

As mentioned in a previous post, picnics are not the only thing that gets set up in a park like Villa Ada!

As the longest running summer music festival in Rome (the first edition dates back to 1994), Roma incontra il mondo has always leaned more towards world music and other niche, less-broadcasted artists, but over the years it has incorporated many other genres, including punk, rock, jazz and folk music.

What’s really special about this location is that the main stage is built on an actual island in the middle of the park’s main pond. For those who just want to hang out around there in the evening, there is also a free-access area with food stalls, bars and more.

This edition’s main event is the double billing Calexico-Iron and Wine, but locals are eagerly waiting for Naples-by-Berlin band Nu Guinea, which will turn Villa Ada into a proper outdoors disco.

Access to the festival is through Via di Ponte Salario, 28. Tickets price range from 5 to roughly 35 Euros.

4. Teatro dell’Opera @ Terme di Caracalla

The Baths of Caracalla, where the Opera House of Rome relocates each summer. Image by pcdazero, sourced from Pixabay

Not many people know that the Teatro dell’Opera (the Opera House) of Rome relocates each summer to the Baths of Caracalla, with orchestras and classical dancers performing in this very special setting for a little over two months.

Even smaller is the number of visitors (or locals, for that matter) who are aware that the program for this festival includes pop, rock or electronic acts, opening up this glamorous festival to more diverse musical offerings.

While celebrated maestro Ennio Morricone has held 7 sold-out concerts at the start of the outdoors season, some of the giants performing at this year’s festival include Placido Domingo, Ludovico Einaudi or the former frontman for Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler.

The festival is accessed from Viale delle Terme di Caracalla. Tickets range from 5 Euros to roughly 40 Euros.

5. Village Celimontana @ Villa Celimontana

A common scene at Village Celimontana, image by Bouganville Celimontana sourced from Facebook

The Villa Celimontana park, uphill from the Colosseum, has a long standing tradition of hosting jazz concerts, and after a few years where no events had been planned, now a music festival has finally returned to crowd the trails of this garden.

Visitors can expect a blend of soul, swing, tango and, obviously, jazz, by artists from Italy and abroad, as well as poetry nights, dance lessons… and a well-stocked bar!

Village Celimontana, Via della Navicella, 12. All concerts are free of charge.