Rome's rose garden remains closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Rome has cancelled the Premio Roma 2020, its prestigious international competition for the most beautiful rose in the capital, held each year at the city's Roseto Comunale, due to the coronavirus pandemic.Depending on how the crisis develops, the city will evaluate whether or not to hold the contest during the re-flowering of the roses, which generally takes place in October.

In the meantime the gates of the rose garden, located on the eastern side of the Aventine hill overlooking the Circus Maximus, will remain closed.

The popular garden traditionally opens for Natale di Roma, Rome's birthday on 21 April, but this year that didn't happen.The Premio Roma, established in 1933 and interrupted between 1940 and 1951, represents an event of great importance in the botanical field and opens the international season of events dedicated to roses.

The contest normally takes place in Rome on the third Saturday of May.

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• The story of Rome's rose garden

The public rose gardens date back to 1931 when the American countess Mary Gayley Senni succeeded in securing from the city authorities a site on the Oppian hill near the Colosseum, which contained about 300 plants.Two years later the countess's efforts paid off again when the city established the Premio Roma contest.

The original garden was destroyed during world war two but in 1950 the roses bloomed once more at the garden’s present site, the former home of the Jewish graveyard which transferred to the cemetery at Campo Verano in 1934.

Cover photo credit: ValerioMei / Shutterstock.com