San Vito Romano Painting Extempore

An open-air studio in the Monti Prenestini

For over forty years, the San Vito Romano Painting Extempore has been one of the most anticipated cultural events of the summer in the Monti Prenestini. Established in the early 1980s and reaching its 44th edition in 2025, the event is organized by the Pro Loco San Vito Romano APS in collaboration with the Municipality of San Vito Romano, with the support of the Lazio Region and local entities like the BCC di Bellegra. For an entire day in mid-July, the historic center becomes a large open-air studio, where dozens of painters work side-by-side under the eyes of residents and visitors.

How the competition works

The format is the classic extempore style: canvases are stamped in the morning, then each artist chooses their favorite view—an ancient doorway, a staircase, a lookout over the valley—and paints a work inspired by the year's theme live, within the day. In the afternoon, a jury composed of art historians, restorers, and local institutional representatives evaluates the works, and the day culminates with the awards ceremony at the «Vittorio Bachelet» Villa Comunale, followed by a convivial aperitif open to everyone.

The theme of the year, a mirror of the village

Each edition proposes a theme linked to the town's identity. In 2024, artists explored «San Vito Romano: that old doorway», while the 2025 edition featured «The village, yesterday and today», an emotional and visual journey between memory and the present that attracted over 35 painters from various Italian regions. The works remain on public display until the awards ceremony, turning streets and squares into a widespread exhibition.

The children's section

For about ten years, the event has accompanied the main competition with a section reserved for children: in 2025, about twenty children drew and painted alongside the adults, receiving recognition during the final ceremony. It is a simple and effective way to introduce new generations to art and village life.

Art, wine, and conviviality

The competition is also a village festival. The 2024 edition, renamed «Art & Wine», paired painting with a tasting in the Macchiarella area, at the Boschetto, where all the competing works were exhibited: a combination of creativity and local products that perfectly captures the spirit of the event, as sober and genuine as the village that hosts it.

San Vito Romano, an art village in Lazio

Nestled at an altitude of about 650 meters among the Monti Prenestini, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, San Vito Romano is a medieval-style village dominated by the Castello Theodoli, with the charming Borgo Mario Theodoli and a network of alleys that seem made to be painted. The Painting Extempore is, along with the town's summer festivals, one of the best opportunities to discover it: it is easily accessible from Rome and the Castelli Romani, and you leave with the image of a town that chooses to tell its story through the colors of its guests every summer.