Roma 2009 – March 18 to April 1, 2007
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Although all roads lead to Rome, on Sunday 18th March at 11.30am all roads led to Market Street at the Rod Laver Arena for the ‘presentation to Melbourne’, of the most spectacular replica of the Colosseum, the most famous of Roman buildings.
Roberto Diacetti, General Manager of the Organising Committee for Roma 2009 said, ‘over the next two weeks, from the 17th March to 1st April, Roma 2009 will make a splash in Melbourne by bringing to the City of Melbourne the taste and atmosphere of Rome!’ Roma 2009’s home in Melbourne was located at the ANZ Pavilion, Victorian Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Road – and the public was welcomed from the 25th March to the 1st April to visit and savour Italian hospitality.
The Colosseum was commissioned by Bruno Grollo, the man who has changed the skyline of Melbourne over the last five decades and together with the Minister for Sport and Culture of the Lazio Regional Government, The Hon. Giulia Rodano presented the “Colosseum” to the City of Melbourne.”
The Colosseum was on show at the Roma 2009 stand for the two weeks of FINA Swimming Championships.
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Roma 2009 Highlights
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• 18th March Opening of Casa Roma at ANZ Pavilion, Victorian Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Official Opening Dinner at Casa Roma hosted by the Minister for Sport and Culture form the Regional Government of Lazio, The Hon. Giulia Rodano with the Minister for Sport, Youth and Recreation, The Hon. James Merlino, Victorian Government.
• 20th March Screening of the film, “L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio” – “The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio” followed by an intimate concert by members of the Orchestra and cocktails.
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ORCHESTRA DI PIAZZA VITTORIO - BACKGROUND
In 2001 in Rome, Italy a group of artists, filmmakers, musicians and writers decided to create the Associazione Apollo 11 in an effort to save an early twentieth-century theatre in Rome, the Cinema Apollo, from being turned into a bingo hall. This theater is located in the Piazza Vittorio in Esquilino, the most multi-ethnic neighborhood in Rome. Piazza Vittorio preserves much of traditional Rome but in the past decade, it has been enriched by the arrival of people from all over the world who have transformed it into an international meeting ground.
Successful in their efforts to save the theatre, Apollo 11 then undertook to revive it and worked hard to set up a programming schedule of foreign films as a way to give added value to the many cultures living and working in this unique neighborhood. Apollo 11 saw culture, in its plurality of artistic expressions, as a means of changing Rome’s urban makeup by occupying an urban space while at the same time promoting the multicultural dialogue between the city’s different communities.
A significant initiative of the Association, in particular one its members, musician Mario Tronco, was the creation of an orchestra made up of musicians from countries and cultures around the world who brought their instruments and personal backgrounds of popular music with them: the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio. The Orchestra was born in the spirit of the piazza, a multi-ethnic mix that grouped musicians and supporters together in 2002.
In 2003 it toured Italy introducing its worldwide music and musicians to audiences. Now after four years, 130 shows around the world, and a debut album, the Orchestra is releasing its second album Sona and a film about its birth, Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio.
• Closing Dinner of Casa Roma “Grazie Melbourne, Arriverderci a Roma 2009”
• 1st April Official FINA Closing Ceremony. Brief presentation by Roma 2009.
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