Buon Compleanno, Italia: 150 Anni!

Last night, I was working on my sketchbook in studio when all of a sudden I heard repeated booming sounds outside: fireworks! It was midnight, and the Italians were beginning their celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy. I looked up at Steph, who was sitting across from me, and we both jumped up to look for the fireworks. We couldn't see anything from any of the windows in studio, so we tried to think where they would be shooting them off from. Of course: the Vittorio Emmanuelle II Monument! (Vittorio Emmanuelle II was responsible for unifying Italy). Realizing this had to be it, we grabbed our coats, raced down the 4 flights of stairs from studio and literally ran to the Wedding Cake (I never realized how far it actually is from Campo until running the distance). We were just about to turn the corner to Piazza Venezia (in front of the monument) when we heard many loud booms at once: the finale. We had just missed it.

However, our disappointment at missing the fireworks quickly faded as we saw everything else that was going on in the piazza. The entire area had transformed into a display of Italian pride, with green, white, and red lights illuminating the Vittorio Emmanuelle II Monument, Trajan's Column, the Colosseum, and other buildings. Italian flags were everywhere. Cultural films were being projected on the curving facade of Trajan's Market and on the front of the Capitol building on the Campidoglio, accompanied by music. Standing in the Campidoglio, being able to hear nothing other than one of the beautiful arias from "The Barber of Seville," and being surrounded by proud Italians was a truly remarkable experience.

Vittorio Emmanuelle II Monument ("The Wedding Cake")
Photo by Stephanie Coxe

Museums around the city were open for free until 2am, so while we were in the area anyway, Steph and I decided to explore the inside of the Wedding Cake, which is essentially a large museum about the unification of Italy and some of its history since. We also went inside the capitol building on the Campidoglio. It was so great to get to experience such an overwhelming display of Italian pride during my time studying here!