Wanted in Rome's guide to Festa della Donna

A series of exhibitions, installations, award ceremonies, readings, concerts, screenings and walking tours are scheduled in Rome in the days around International Women's Day on Sunday 8 March, including a free programme of cultural events for women at the city's libraries from 5 to 14 March.

The main Festa della Donna event on 8 March is a walking tour through the city centre, during which guests can listen to the life stories of famous women from Rome's history, including poets Tullia D'Aragona and Vittoria Colonna; Queen Christina of Sweden; artists Artemisia Gentileschi and Marianna Dionigi; and Risorgimento patriots Colomba Antonietti and Giuditta Tavani Arquati. The tour, which will be conducted in Italian, begins in Piazza del Popolo at 08.30 and ends at 13.00 at the Casa Internazionale delle Donne on Via della Lungara 19 in Trastevere.

Later that day the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (GNAM) presents eight artists with awards for Arte: Sostantivo Femminile, a homage to women who have made a substantial contibrution to art or culture, at 16.30 in the Salone del Mito. Free entry.

On 10 March the Women for Women International (WfWI) organisation is holding a fundraising event called Celebrating International Womens Day - Let's Make it Happen, featuring guest speaker Marta Dassù, from 18.00-20.30 at the Salone del Mito in GNAM. The suggested donation is €30 or more. For more details contact victoria.ericks@gmail.com.

On 12 March the intercultural Italian organisation A Sud holds the fourth edition of the Premio Donne, Pace e Ambiente, Wangari Maathai initiative at 17.00 at the Campidoglio, in collaboration with the Casa Internazionale delle Donne. Awards will be given to four Italian activists in recognition of their struggle to defend peace, human rights, gender, environment, and their campaign to stop violence against women. The award is dedicated to the late Wangari Muta Maathai, Kenya's Nobel Peace Prize-winning political activist and one of the most influential women in Africa.

The traditional gift to women on Festa della Donna in Italy is a sprig of the bright yellow mimosa flower.