Borgata Fest

A festival born from the neighborhood

Borgata Fest is the annual celebration of Borgata Gordiani, a historic district in the eastern quadrant of Rome, situated in the V Municipality between the Prenestino area and Villa dei Gordiani. This is no top-down event: it was created by the Sostieni la Borgata collective, a self-managed group that has been energizing the neighborhood since 2018 through a popular sports association, psychological counseling services, a community clinic, social dinners, and outdoor film screenings. The festival is the moment when all this daily work culminates in a public day of gathering, open to anyone who wishes to experience the borgata.

Where it takes place

The venue is the Ex Bocciofilo di Villa Gordiani, at Via Dignano d'Istria 47, a space reclaimed from the bottom up on the edge of the Villa dei Gordiani archaeological park, where Roman ruins along the Via Prenestina coexist with sports fields and post-war apartment blocks. It is a place that perfectly captures the dual soul of this part of Rome, the capital of the Lazio Region: ancient heritage and the 20th-century popular memory of the borgate, built in the 1930s to house families displaced from the historic center.

The nature of the program

Borgata Fest has a recognizable structure that repeats year after year, weaving together three distinct moments over the course of a single day:

• The afternoon of debates: public meetings on justice, rights, memory, and social conflict, featuring guests from local associations, journalism, and Roman neighborhood movements.
• The screening: a documentary or film tied to the day's themes, often independently produced and featuring the filmmakers in attendance.
• The evening of concerts: live music and DJ sets dedicated to the emerging Roman scene, ranging from rap and urban singer-songwriters to experimental sounds, with the crowd filling the square until late at night.

Surrounding these three pillars are the popular kitchen, the drink stand, and tables hosted by local solidarity groups: self-financing is an integral part of the project, as the festival has no commercial sponsors and relies entirely on the volunteer work of those who build it.

Why it's worth visiting

Visitors to Rome rarely make it to the borgate, yet this is where you truly understand how the city grew in the 20th century. Borgata Fest offers an honest, non-touristy perspective: you eat with the residents, listen to discussions about the concrete life of the neighborhood, and discover a music scene that is among the most vibrant in Italy. Admission is free, and the atmosphere is that of an informal, welcoming neighborhood party.

Not to be confused with

Borgata Fest is an independent initiative and should be distinguished from the Roma Borgata Festival, the widespread institutional program that brings theatrical and musical performances to various peripheral neighborhoods of the capital between May and September. These are two different projects in terms of nature, promoters, and programming, even if they share a focus on Rome's suburbs.

A festival to follow on the collective's channels

As there is no ticket office or formal press office, the program is announced on the Borgata Gordiani social media channels, usually in the weeks immediately preceding the event. Those wishing to attend should keep an eye on the collective's Instagram and Facebook pages starting at the end of the summer.