Italy: Landmarks go green for St Patrick’s Day

Rome: Italy will have 42 sites and monuments included in the 2021 Global Greening, Ireland’s annual campaign to bathe international landmarks in green lights for St Patrick’s Day.

The initiative to celebrate Ireland’s patron saint, now in its 12th edition, will see more than 440 sites around the world turning green – the biggest number ever – on 17 March.

“This year more than ever, the event brings a message of friendship, closeness and hope to all those people, more than 70 million, who have ties to the island of Ireland,” said Niall Gibbons, CEO of Irish Tourism.

The sites range from the Sydney Opera House to a letter box on top of Øretoppen Mountain in Norway; from the tallest building in South America, Chile’s Torre Costanera, to the Sekenani Gate at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

Italy is participating with 42 sites, from the north to the south, most of which are new entries.
Rome will see Trajan’s Column and the Fontanone turn green, along with the Villa Spada, the seat of Ireland’s embassy to Italy on the Janiculum Hill.

Also going green are the Unicredit Tower in Milan, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Porta S. Giacomo in Bergamo, the James Joyce statue in Trieste, and Procida, Italy’s capital of culture 2022.

“I am delighted that we will have a record number of greenings across Italy this year to mark St Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s national day,” stated Ireland’s ambassador to Italy Colm Ó Floinn.

“At a time when it is still not possible to meet in person to mark the occasion, the illumination of monuments and landmarks around the country in green is a particularly important symbol of the close friendship and solidarity between our two countries.”