Friday: This Friday marks the second night of the Roman Traditional Jazz Festival at The Cotton Club as Mario Donatone, the Red Pellini and Daniele Cordisco Quartet, and The Dixie Ticklers share the stage. The Festival began Thursday night and runs through Sunday, and is an initiative on the part of the Cotton Club to expose more people to classic jazz tunes. Apparently they have been lobbying the city for years to help them shine the spotlight on jazz, and without much response have taken it open themselves to lower their prices for the weekend and let in the riff-raff. What is normally a 20-30 euro evening will cost you simply the price of a drink throughout the festival. Doors open nightly at 8:30, with the musicians scheduled to start at 9:30.
Saturday: Since the Roman spring seems to have officially started already, and really, the best way to enjoy this weather is sprawled out on a blanket in the Villa Borghese with an awesome book, the Santa Susanna Library Book Sale could not come at a better time. Head over to Via XX Settembre, 15 on Saturday or Sunday from 10-12:30 to browse through stacks of fiction, cook books, children’s books, and a fabulous collection of rare, out of print editions, all at quite low prices. This weekend is also your last chance to catch two great shows at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna – Art in Italy After Photography and Gianfranco Baruchello.
Sunday: It’s a question that has long confounded the great minds of this city, leading to endless debates and broken friendships and glasses – are you a Romanista or Laziale? Well, if you haven’t decided yet (we here at YiR already have, but will maintain our journalistic impartiality for the time being), now’s the time, for AS Roma takes on crosstown rival SS Lazio this Sunday at the Stadio Olimpico. As per tradition, this game, like all other intra-city games, is colloquially known as The Derby. Kick-off is Sunday at 3pm, and tickets are available at the AS Roma store in Piazza Colonna (and presumably somewhere with a Lazio affiliation as well…). Oh, and if these last few sentences have just been a confusing jumble of words to you, it’s a big soccer game.
