Torpignattara Chinese New Year

A festival born from the neighborhood

The Torpignattara Chinese New Year is an intercultural neighborhood celebration held in the heart of Rome's Municipio V, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio. This is not a top-down event: it was born from the grassroots initiative of the He Ping-Pace association, which has been active for years at the Carlo Pisacane school under the direction of Xiaoyan Zhou, together with local families, neighborhood committees, and the associations that bring Torpignattara to life. The goal is both simple and ambitious: to transform public space into a meeting place where the Chinese and Italian communities can celebrate the arrival of the new lunar year together.

Torpignattara, a plural neighborhood

For decades, Torpignattara has been one of Rome's most multicultural neighborhoods. Between Via Casilina and Acqua Bullicante, dozens of different backgrounds coexist, and the Chinese community has built a deeply rooted presence over time, consisting of businesses, language schools, and cultural associations. The Carlo Pisacane school has long been a symbol of this coexistence. Bringing the Lunar New Year to the streets of the neighborhood means publicly recognizing a part of the local identity and doing so in a shared, festive way.

The parade and the lion dance

The heart of the day is the traditional parade that winds through the neighborhood streets, starting from the Carlo Pisacane school. Red dominates the scene: lanterns, costumes, flags, and drums accompany the procession, which is open to anyone who wishes to join. One of the most anticipated moments takes place at Largo Pettazzoni, with lion dance performances and demonstrations by the Chinese martial arts schools collaborating on the initiative. The lion dance, with its acrobatic movements and the tight rhythm of the percussion, has a very specific function in Chinese tradition: to ward off negative energy and attract luck and prosperity for the coming year.

Afternoon workshops

Once the itinerant part of the event concludes, the festivities move to the He Ping-Pace association headquarters and Parco Sangalli, where the afternoon is dedicated to creative workshops on Chinese traditions and symbols. Activities range from calligraphy to auspicious crafts, and from physical practices like tai chi to games for children. This part of the day is designed especially for families and schools, where hands-on experience becomes a direct way to approach another culture without academic mediation.

A recognized heritage

The Chinese Lunar New Year is inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the Torpignattara event explicitly asserts this value. It is no coincidence that the initiative is supported by Municipio Roma V, the Central Institute for Intangible Heritage, and the Department of Social and Economic Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, in addition to the collaboration of the Casilino Ad Duas Lauros Ecomuseum, which has been working for years on the memory and identity of the Casilino-Prenestino quadrant.

Why it is worth attending

• Completely free admission, held in public spaces open to everyone.
• A rare opportunity to see the lion dance and traditional Chinese martial arts live in Rome.
• A family-friendly festival with workshops designed for children and teenagers.
• The opportunity to discover Torpignattara, a neighborhood of street art, markets, and world cuisines, on one of its most vibrant days.

The Torpignattara Chinese New Year aims to be an annual appointment, with the ambition of becoming a permanent fixture in the Roman intercultural calendar.