Mayor inaugurates city's latest urban art regeneration project.

The mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino, inaugurated a major street art project in the Tor Marancia neighbourhood, south of the city centre, between the districts of Garbatella and EUR, on 9 March.

The Big City Life scheme began in early January and was completed at the end of February. It features 14-m tall murals on 11 façades, covering a total of 2,600 sqm, and involving 20 Italian and international street artists.

The murals' designs came about following discussions between the artists, local residents and school children, with the idea of turning the suburb\'s social housing buildings into an open-air art museum to be enjoyed by locals and visitors.

In addition to the three Italian street artists Diamond, Moneyless, and Mr Klevra, the other artists involved came from Argentina, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal and the US.

It is the latest in a series of urban art regeneration schemes which have been focused primarily in Rome\'s more disadvantaged suburbs.

The Tor Marancia project was organised by cultural association 999Contemporary with the backing of the city and the Ater social housing body.

Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele, president of Fondazione Roma which sponsored the scheme, described it as work of the "highest cultural and social value" and cited the success of the recent SanBa project which his foundation also funded.

Big City Life comes under the umbrella of Roma è tutta Roma, the city\'s plan to use culture, social events, housing and public works to regenerate Rome's "forgotten" suburbs.