Numerous "Festa della Donna" events in Rome for International Women’s Day.

Women have free admission to all state museums and archaeological sites across Italy for International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8 March. There is also free entry for women to Rome's Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo (MAXXI). Under the campaign Pledge for Parity, the internationally-recognised day calls on people to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women around the world.

Rome pays tribute to Lina Wertmüller, the world's first woman to receive an Academy Award nomination for best director for her 1975 masterpiece Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties). Wertmüller will participate in a public interview at the Teatro di Villa Torlonia which will also screen Dietro gli occhiali bianchi, a documentary about the Italian director's life and career. Entry to the event at 17.00 is free but places must be reserved, tel. 060608.

Later that evening, at 17.30, the intercultural Italian organisation A Sud holds the fifth edition of the Premio Donne, Pace e Ambiente, Wangari Maathai initiative at the Casa Internazionale delle Donne on Via della Lungara 19 in Trastevere. Awards will be presented 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.

Two days before International Women's Day, on Sunday 6 March, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (GNAM) presents the eighth edition of Arte: Sostantivo Femminile, a homage to women who have made a substantial contibrution to art or culture. Eight women from the art world – curators, artists, gallerists, art administrators and collectors – will receive awards at a special ceremony at 18.30. Entry is free and the event can be accessed through the gallery's restaurant on Via Gramsci 73.

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