Press Releases

Mayor Virginia Raggi: “Highlighting our city’s art treasures as a way of preserving and valorizing them”

Acea Chief Operating Officer Giovanni Papaleo: “Interventions carried out with innovative and sustainable criteria to combine low consumption with livability”

The lights return to shine in Piazza Farnese. The maintenance and modernization work on the lighting systems of the fountains, Palazzo Farnese, and the facade of the Church of Santa Brigida, has been completed. The work has restored the charm of this jewel in the Capital’s historic center, a site of great architectural and urban value that can now be enjoyed by citizens and tourists alike.

Yesterday evening, in the presence of the French Ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, and the Chief Operating Officer of the Acea Group, Giovanni Papaleo, Mayor Virginia Raggi presented the piazza’s new lighting system.

The event was opened by the Band of the Local Police of the City of Rome, followed by the performance of 13 solists from the Italian Cinema Orchestra – national musical excellence, led by Marco Patrignani, that promotes the artistic and cultural heritage of film music across the world – who performed in honor of Ennio Morricone, Luis Bacalov, Piero Piccioni, Armando Trovajoli, Nino Rota and Nicola Piovani.

The interventions, carried out by Areti – the company part of the Acea Group that manages Rome’s electricity network – in collaboration with the Capital’s Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, are part of the plan of the City of Rome to use artistic lighting to bring value to monuments and sites of great cultural interest.

In particular, the existing lighting elements were replaced with a next-generation LED system: 12 new lights for each of the two fountains, four projectors for the lighting of Palazzo Farnese and one for the facade of the Church of Santa Brigida, which overlooks the piazza.

The work to clean and restore the fountain basins was coordinated by the Superintendency.

Additionally, the entire pedestrian area, including Via dei Baullari, between Piazza del Teatro di Pompeo and Piazza Farnese, is now a no parking zone and can be accessed only by certain categories of vehicles.

“We bring light to the most representative monuments of the Capital. The new lighting system of Piazza Farnese is part of an ongoing project to promote our huge artistic, historical, and cultural heritage. Highlighting its beauty is a way of preserving, valorizing and taking care of it. And by creating a no parking zone we are protecting the entire area. Finally, tourists, local residents, and the citizens of Rome can enjoy this piazza in all its beauty”, said the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi.

“The new lighting system of Piazza Farnese is yet another step in the process of adding value to the historical and cultural sites of the Capital - said Acea’s Chief Operating Officer, Giovanni Papaleo. “All interventions have been carried out following innovative and sustainable criteria, to combine low consumption with livability. As a result, the lighting system is both artistic and functional: the lights were designed to harmonize with the surroundings also thanks to the use of next generation projectors, which exalt the architectural characteristics of the fountains and the piazza”.

Other projects carried out by Roma Capitale and the Acea Group include the artistic lighting system of Piazza del Popolo, the Arch of Constantine, the Pantheon, the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Porta Pia, the Old Town of Ostia Antica, the Basilicas of Saint John Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore, the Dome of the Great Synagogue, Piazza del Campidoglio, and Valadier Tower.