Toned-down celebrations mark Rome's 2,774th birthday

Photo taken on April 21, 2021 shows the Roman Forum in Rome, Italy. The City of Rome celebrated its birthday with a day-long series of events on Wednesday -- but, due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, the commemorations were muted. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)

ROME, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The City of Rome celebrated its birthday with a day-long series of events on Wednesday -- but, due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, the commemorations were muted.

According to legend, Rome was founded on this date 2,774 years ago by twins Romulus and Remus, who washed up on the shore of the Tiber River and were fed by a she-wolf who found them there.

Over the centuries, the city has survived wars and famines, sackings and plagues, Maurizio Stefanini, a native Roman who has written about the plagues, viral pandemics, and pestilences that have hit the city, told Xinhua. Though the current pandemic is a new phenomenon for most of the 4.3 million people living in the greater Rome area, as a city, Rome has seen it all.

"There were a few big outbreaks that hit the city, starting in the second century and through medieval times, and dozens of smaller waves of disease, many of which have been lost to history," Stefanini said.

"We think a pandemic was one of the main factors behind the fall of the Roman Empire. These pandemics have been part of human history since the start of time," he said.

For modern Romans, however, that rich history offers little consolation.

"It is one thing to read about the dark periods in the city's history and quite another to live through it," commented Andrea Barrichello, a municipal worker who had Wednesday off because of the anniversary. "Last year, it was just the start of the pandemic and I assumed it would be over within a few weeks. A year later, it casts a shadow over everything."

In most years, the celebrations include parades and battle re-enactments with actors in historical centurion costumes, drawing big crowds. With pandemic restrictions preventing that kind of activity, the Ministry of Culture and Rome's municipal authorities are making the best of a bad situation.

On social media, the ministry has published a new time-lapse video based on the Pantheon, one of the city's best-known sites. On Wednesday night, a special light show highlighting many of the city's iconic monuments will be broadcast online. Earlier on Wednesday, a webcast showed a parachutist tailing an oversized Italian flag land in Circus Maximus, an ancient chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue where the anniversary celebrations were based in pre-coronavirus years. To mark the occasion, Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi placed a laurel wreath at the city's Vittoriano monument, which was built in honor of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy.

For Maria Luisa Garza, a restaurant worker, the limited scope of the day's celebrations was another reminder of the deep impacts of the pandemic.

"I used to take my children to see the parade and now we have to watch a video on the computer," Garza told Xinhua. "Compared to everything else, it's a small thing. But it's also a reminder of how far we still are from things returning to normal."

Maria Rosaria Di Napoli, an art history teacher, lives a few hundred meters from Circus Maximus and the traditional parade route. She was philosophical about the current situation, saying she had never been an active participant in the anniversary celebrations and so the new toned-down version of events made little difference for her.

"The overall situation is not enjoyable for anyone," she told Xinhua. "But for me, the anniversary hasn't changed much under the pandemic except that now it's easier to find a parking space."