Strike SPA (Self-Managed Public Space) Anniversary

A birthday party over twenty years in the making

On the night between October 17 and 18, 2002, thousands of people—students, precarious workers, the unemployed, and migrants—marched through Rome from San Lorenzo toward Portonaccio and occupied an abandoned warehouse at the end of Via Umberto Partini. That night marked the birth of Strike SPA, a Self-Managed Public Space, and ever since, every October, that date is commemorated with a festival open to the entire city. It is not just a concert; it is the day the space shares what it has achieved over the past year with everyone who stops by.

Where it takes place

The warehouse is located in the Municipality of Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, in the Lazio region, at the end of Via Partini, between Portonaccio and Casal Bertone. It sits in an area of former workshops and industrial warehouses now facing significant real estate pressure. It is one of the least touristy and most vibrant corners of eastern Rome: no postcards here, just painted walls and a working-class neighborhood that has reinvented itself several times over the last twenty years.

What to expect during the day

The festival structure follows a familiar progression each year: it begins in the afternoon with workshops, continues with assemblies and presentations, moves on to a communal dinner, and concludes with live music until late at night. The most recent edition featured:

• Technical and artistic workshops open to everyone, from sound engineering to music programming;
• A clowning workshop designed for all ages, including children;
• Assemblies and debates on political and social issues, ranging from gender politics to international conflicts;
• A photography exhibition set up in the indoor spaces;
• A community dinner prepared by the self-managed gastronomic groups that revolve around the space;
• Cabaret, circus, and street performances in the early evening;
• Live concerts and electronic sets until late at night.

A space that thrives year-round

The October festival is a showcase for a venue that operates every week. For years, diverse self-managed projects have coexisted within Strike: a popular trattoria with affordable prices, a wine shop connecting producers directly with consumers, an anti-racist help desk offering language courses and legal assistance, a carpentry workshop, a screen-printing studio, a darkroom for analog photography, an audio studio, a film lab open to migrants, a handmade skatepark built without sponsors, and a street brass band. Visitors arriving for the birthday party have the chance to see them all in action on the same afternoon.

The vibe

The atmosphere is more like a neighborhood block party than a festival: families with children in the early afternoon, long communal tables at dinner time, and a younger, larger crowd after midnight. The space openly declares its principles—anti-fascism, anti-racism, and the rejection of machismo and drug dealing—and asks everyone who enters to respect them. There are no tickets or pre-sales: you provide a voluntary donation at the entrance, and in recent editions, the proceeds have gone toward maintenance work on the warehouse roof.

Why it is worth visiting

For those visiting Rome, the Strike anniversary offers a glimpse into a side of the city that tourist circuits rarely show: the cultural self-organization of the Roman suburbs, a tradition with a long and still very active history in Lazio. It is also an affordable evening where you can eat well, listen to music you won't easily find elsewhere, and almost always end up in a conversation with someone new.