Ireland's Global Greening campaign includes Colosseum and Irish embassy in Rome.

The Colosseum will once again be illuminated in green lights as part of Ireland's annual Global Greening campaign for St Patrick's Day at 21.00 on the evening of 17 March.

The Irish embassy to Italy, at Villa Spada on the Janiculum hill, will also be illuminated in green, in addition to other Italian sites such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa and St Patrick's Well in Orvieto.

This is the tenth year of the annual campaign by Tourism Ireland, with more than 300 landmark sites around the world being turned green in honour of Ireland's national day.

Tourism Ireland says that in addition to being a source of pride to the Irish diaspora, the initiative is designed to raise awareness of Ireland as a tourist destination.

Industry figures say that the annual high-profile media coverage of the greened sites comes at a time when people around the world are beginning to plan their overseas holidays.

More than 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland.