Rome does not just celebrate itself, this year, the celebrations of Rome’s Christmas, which commemorate the foundation of the city on 21 April 753 BC, are enriched with an unexpected and very powerful protagonist: the extra virgin olive oil produced in the Roman territory, protected by the PGI mark.
From 10 to 21 April 2026, the Rome PGI Oil Festival brings to the stage for the first time a program spread across the most evocative places in the city, mixing history, culture, food and wine and sustainability in a single story.
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A festival born from an ancient ritual
The idea is not random, the Consorzio Olio di Roma PGI has chosen to reconnect with the Palilia, an ancient pastoral festival of the Roman religion dedicated to the land and olive trees: a rite that served to purify the flocks, the shepherds and to bless the villages with an olive branch, a symbol of protection and prosperity. That thousand-year-old tradition lives today in a contemporary key, with tasting masterclasses, oil tourism itineraries, show cooking and moments of edutainment designed for all generations. In short, oil is not just an ingredient: it is a historical document that is still alive.
A program spread among the city’s monuments
The Festival passes through Rome like a drizzle of oil on an ancient stone.
It starts with the Festival of Greenery and Landscape at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, from 10 to 12 April, with workshops and tastings in a multi-sensory context.
We continue with the “Generazione O” project, on 16 and 17 April, designed for high school and university students: interactive quizzes, guided tastings and comedy shows to introduce young people to the culture of oil with a fresh and direct language.
On April 18, a guided tour of Monte dei Cocci, the artificial hill made up of millions of fragments of amphorae that once transported oil, wine and foodstuffs – tells better than any manual how oil was the backbone of the Roman economy.
On April 20, the Temple of Hadrian will host producers, show cooking and the presentation of the “Vie dell’Olio di Roma”, the oil tourism routes in the Lazio region. The gala evening at Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, a Renaissance jewel between Via del Colosseo and the Fori Imperiali, will close the celebrations in a context of rare elegance.
The grand finale is April 21st, Rome’s Christmas Day: the L’Eterno Prize will be held at the Curia Iulia, in the heart of the Roman Forum, recognition of personalities, organizations and producers who contribute to spreading the culture of extra virgin olive oil and the Roman identity throughout the world.
Because Olio di Roma PGI is a story worth telling
The PGI brand guarantees that the oil is produced, transformed and packaged in a specific territory, with varieties of native olives and methods that respect the local supply chain. For Rome, it means protecting an agricultural production that has existed since before the city became an empire, and which still survives today in the Lazio countryside, often invisible to most. David Granieri, president of the Consortium, speaks of “synergy between institutions, businesses and the world of culture” as a concrete horizon: not a celebratory event, but a model of territorial development oriented towards quality and sustainability.
An appointment that Rome was waiting for
The Festival was presented at Palazzo Valentini with the participation of Roma Capitale, the Lazio Region, Arsial, the Colosseum Archaeological Park and the Rome Chamber of Commerce. An institutional convergence that says a lot about what is at stake: valorising the PGI Rome Oil means defending an agricultural and cultural identity, educating the new generations on food quality, and building a slow tourism rooted in the landscape that goes well beyond the walls of the Colosseum.
For those who live in Rome, or even just pass by in April, it is a rare opportunity: to smell for once the fruity smell of a good extra virgin olive oil bouncing between the columns of a Roman temple.
