The city has announced free admission for women to civic museums on 8 March. The participating institutions are the Capitoline Museums, Capitoline Museums Centrale Montemartini; Markets of Trajan, the Ara Pacis museum, Museum of Ancient Sculpture Giovanni Barracco, Museum of Roman Civilisation, Museo delle Mura, Villa di Massenzio, Gallery of Modern Art, Museo di Roma Palazzo Braschi, Napoleonic Museum, MACRO, Museo Carlo Bilotti all'Aranciera di Villa Borghese, Museo Pietro Canonica a Villa Borghese, Museum of Rome in Trastevere, Villa Torlonia Museum, Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Museum of Zoology, Museum of the Roman Republic and to the Memory of Garibaldi. Excluded is the Steve McCurry exhibition at MACRO Testaccio.

The city has also organised a series of events for International Women's Day on 8 March, including guided tours of archaeological sites in the company of actors who will read texts relating to the role of women in Roman history.

10.20, 12.20 (tour in English), 15.00. Colosseum. The extended tour includes the arena floor and third level. Booking essential, tel. 0639967700.

10.00, 12.00. House of the Vestal Virgins, Roman Forum.

15.30. National Museum of Rome at the Baths of Diocletian. After the tour led by an archaeologist, there will be a concert including music by Mozart, Gluck and Silvestrini.

15.30. National Museum of Rome at Crypta Balbi: 75 minute guided tour of the excavations and museum.

17.30. National Roman Museum in Palazzo Massimo. 90 minute guided tour.

17.30. National Roman Museum in Palazzo Altemps. 75 minute guided tour, followed by concert at 18.00.

Some special events to look out for include the opening of a new multi-purpose cultural venue called the Scuderie della Casa dei Teatri, adjacent to Villino Corsini in Villa Pamphilj park, at 20.30.

The Scuderie, which will form part of Rome