This year there are plenty of romantic St Valentine's Day events taking place in Rome whose Colosseum recently made the news after the discovery of a long-lost love letter. 

Couples visiting Italy’s state-run cultural institutions will pay for one ticket only on Thursday 14 February, thanks to an initiative by the culture ministry in honour of Valentine's Day. There are many interesting exhibitions showing currently in Rome, and a full list of participating museums, monuments, archaeological sites, archives, libraries and theatres can be seen on the ministry’s website. 

The UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy is the special guest of the Keats-Shelley House in Piazza di Spagna, where she will launch 'Lo splendore del tempio', a splendid new translation of her greatest love poems, which have been beautifully rendered into Italian by Floriana Marinzuli and Bernardino Nera. 

For fans of English language theatre, Plays in Rome and the Rome Savoyards present Thornton Wilder's By the Skin of Our Teeth at Teatro Genesio in Prati; and England's distinguished director Peter Brook directs a production of the critically-acclaimed The Suit at Teatro Palladium. For more light-hearted musicals check out The Full Monty at Teatro Sistina and Shrek at Teatro Olimpico, while Teatro Arciliuto hosts Love Songs for S. Valentino. 

On a serious note, there are numerous flash mob events planned in Rome on 14 February as part of The One Billion Rising campaign in support of ending violence against women. The plan is for a billion men and women in 189 countries to dance in protest over the violence experienced by the estimated one billion women around the world. 

Many of the capital's restaurants have special Valentine's Day promotions but for a real treat check out the "Elements and Planets' Influence on Love" dinner menu at the Michelin-starred Imàgo restaurant in the exclusive Hassler Hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps. 

Those who wish to leave Rome for the day should consider heading to the Cioccolentino festival in the Umbrian city of Terni, which unites chocolate with eternal love, in the home of St Valentine himself.   

Meanwhile to see a comprehensive list of what is happening in Rome on 14 February see Wanted in Rome's What's On listings.