“Tutte le strade portano a Roma.”
All roads lead to Rome.
Welcome to the Friday, May 22 edition of Rome Observer. A warm spring day awaits with clear skies and a high of 25°C — the perfect close to the work week. This weekend brings Pentecost Sunday and the final days of Open House Roma, with dozens of hidden palazzos and gardens open for free exploration. Tonight, Villa Medici hosts the opening weekend of Festival des Cabanes, where artist-built cabins dot the Renaissance gardens. Tomorrow's Notte dei Musei will see museums open until 2am. Let's step into the Eternal City's rhythm.
Open House Roma, the city's annual architecture festival, continues through May 24 with free access to more than 200 normally private spaces across the capital. Now in its 13th edition, the event offers guided tours of historic palazzos, modernist villas, artist studios, embassy gardens, and archaeological sites — many never before opened to the public.
Highlights this weekend include the Palazzo della Consulta (seat of the Constitutional Court), the baroque Biblioteca Casanatense, the rooftop terrace of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, and the secret garden of Villa Medici. All tours are free but require advance registration on the Open House Roma website. The festival is organised by volunteers including architects, historians, and students, and aims to promote architectural literacy and civic engagement.
As Pentecost Sunday approaches on May 24, Rome is preparing for one of its most cherished traditions: the Pilgrimage of the Seven Churches (Visita alle Sette Chiese). Originally established by St. Philip Neri in the 16th century, the devotional route covers seven major basilicas — including St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and Santa Maria Maggiore — covering approximately 20 kilometres on foot.
The pilgrimage begins at dawn and draws thousands of faithful each year. Many churches will hold special Pentecost vigils on Saturday evening, including the mass in Aramaic and Greek at the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura. Meanwhile, the city's municipal rose garden (Roseto Comunale) on the Aventine Hill is in peak bloom, with over 1,100 varieties of roses on display — a beloved spring ritual for Romans.
Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome, has launched the third edition of Festival des Cabanes, an open-air exhibition of temporary architectural cabins designed by emerging artists and architects from France and Italy. The installations, scattered across the villa's 16th-century gardens on the Pincian Hill, explore themes of shelter, nature, and imagination using sustainable and reclaimed materials.
The festival runs from 20 May through 1 November 2026. Visitors can wander through the gardens and encounter works ranging from woven willow cocoons to mirrored treehouses and ceramic grottoes. The exhibition coincides with the ongoing 'Agnès Varda. Here and There, Paris-Rome' show inside the villa, which runs through September. Combined tickets are available.