Italy and the world celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi on 10 October.

Rome is hosting a day-long conference titled "Va Pensiero" at the Sala Pietro da Cortona at the Campidoglio on 10 October at 09.30. The event will focus on the importance of Verdi's music for the identity of millions of Italian-Americans, and speakers will include scholars from across Italy and America.

A new video made especially for Verdi's milestone anniversary will be screened in many Italian cities, towns, schools and associations, some of which are also organising a "Notte Verdi" in honour of the 18th-century maestro who died in 1901.

Titled Verdi - l'invenzione del vero (invention of truth), it features major world events over the last 200 years, incorporating the arias of Verdi and including references to a range of international figures who made a difference such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela, as well as noted Italians such as Rita Levi Montalcini and the anti-Mafia judges Falcone and Borsellino.

For more details see the Beni Culturali website.