21 June. 34th edition of Rome’s European Music Fest.

Over 4,000 musicians will be playing on over 450 free live gigs in all the boroughs of Rome and beyond, from Cesano to Ostia, on Friday 21 June for the 34th edition of the European Music Fest.

Amateurs and professionals have signed up for an eight-hour festival to celebrate the summer solstice, bringing music from 16.00 till midnight in town squares, parks, villas, churches, hospitals, health centres, local markets, shopping malls, subway stations, universities, museums and theatres.

Artists, students, bands, choirs and soloists will offer music from classical to reggae, from electronic to pop – and all of it free for everyone.

The interactive festival website lists all the gigs, sorted by type of music, hour and location – all on a handy map of the city to find the music nearest to you.

The European Festival of Music started out in France in 1982 under the culture minister at the time, Jack Lang. The idea formally because a pan-European festival in 1985, and has greeted the start of summer across the continent every since.