Rome's multidisciplinary arts festival returns from 14 September to 21 November with the 36th edition of its annual programme of contemporary dance, theatre, art, music, technology and events for kids.

This year there will be 86 shows taking place in 20 venues across the city, involving more than 500 artists from 15 different countries, with guests seated in accordance with Italy's covid-19 protocols.

The international programme of live events is hailed by the festival's artistic director Fabrizio Grifasi as a symbol of the restart of the artistic and cultural sector amid the demands of the "new, complicated present."

Some of the highlights include the opening show by the XY acrobats (14-16 Sept) and the Akram Khan Dance Company with Chotto Xenos (25-26 Sept), both at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Villa Medici hosts a musical-literary event, dedicated to Italy's Treccani dictionary, with Le parole delle canzoni by Ginevra and Francesco Pacifico (21 Sept).

Italian actor Ascanio Celestini stages Museo Pasolini, a theatrical performance in tribute to Pierpaolo Pasolini on the centenary of his birth (1-2 Nov), at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

For full festival details, including programme, venues and tickets, see Romaeuropa website.