Rome Meets the World

A festival that brings Rome to the world

Born in 1995 on the small island in the Villa Ada lake, in the green heart of the Trieste-Salario district, Rome Meets the World has become one of the most beloved events of the Roman Summer in just a few years. The formula has remained the same for nearly thirty years: live music under the stars, a stage wide open to cultures from across the planet, and a vision of celebration that encompasses civic engagement, solidarity, and political debate. Here, world music, singer-songwriters, reggae, hip-hop, and electronic music coexist with debates, workshops, and association stands, in a blend that has always made the festival much more than just a concert season.

From the Villa Ada lake to Parco delle Valli

After the long season at Villa Ada, the festival changed home and reinvented itself under the direct guidance of Arci Roma, merging its history with that of the Festa dei Circoli. Today, the event inhabits the large green spaces of the Capital — in 2026, the Arena Rino Gaetano at Parco delle Valli, in Municipality III — without losing its soul: free admission, numerous concerts, DJ sets, and, above all, that vocation for community-building that is inherent in the very name of the event.

Music, cultures, and civic engagement

Every evening follows a consolidated ritual: first the word, with public meetings on political, social, and cultural themes; then the music, with Italian and international names telling stories of distant worlds. The Rome Meets the World stage has hosted African, Middle Eastern, South American, and Caribbean artists alongside the protagonists of the Italian independent scene, in a dialogue that gives substance to the festival's title. There is no shortage of workshops, craft stalls, books, food, and social spaces that make the festival a meeting place open to families, young people, and the curious.

In Rome, Lazio

A symbolic event of the summer in the Municipality of Rome and the Lazio region, Rome Meets the World remains a fixed appointment for those who want to experience the Capital in a different way: free, popular, and cosmopolitan. A festival that, from park to park, continues to bring the voices and sounds of the rest of the world to the city.