VICARIATE OF ROME
SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
PRESS RELEASE
THIRD EDITION OF THE DAY OF THE ARTS
The event scheduled for Saturday 14 February in the Lateran Palace will be dedicated to Gaza
The Day of the Arts, promoted by the Vicariate of Rome and now in its third edition, will be dedicated this year to Gaza, an open wound and a question addressed to our consciences. In the halls of the Lateran Apostolic Palace – which for the occasion will be freely accessible for the entire afternoon, starting from 16.00 – the students of the National Academy of the Dramatic Arts “Silvio d’Amico”, the National Dance Academy, the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome and the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory will bring to the stage the power of gesture, words and music. An installation by Edoardo Tresoldi, the result of a workshop designed by Caritas Roma, will also be presented. Voices, bodies, images and sounds will give shape to a choral narrative, where art becomes listening and responsibility. The performances will be repeated in succession in four rounds, at 16.00, 17.00, 18.00 and 19.00.
“If there were water” is the theme chosen for this edition. Don Gabriele Vecchione, deputy director of the Office for University Pastoral Care and chaplain of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, explains: “Art is the opposite of narcosis, of addiction. Art is revelation, it is imperishable memory. Oblivion breeds monsters, addiction breeds cynicism. So we asked the Academies of Higher Education in Art, Music, and Dance to work on what our ears have heard in recent months: 64,000 deaths, including 18,000 children. We must not forget Gaza. The title ‘If there were water’, taken from a poem by T.S. Eliot, is the desire of every crucified person, that is, not to forget the thirst of those who have nothing left”.
In particular, in the Hall of Conciliazione, the play “Gaza. Prima del silenzio” (“Gaza. Before the silence”), by Francesco d’Alfonso, will be performed, with the first-year drama students of the “Silvio d’Amico” Academy, Giulio Aymonino, Alberto Deflorian, Emma Fasano, Alice Orlando, Michela Palazzo, Lorenzo Romanazzi, Susanna Tommasi and the student director Tuva Engblad, directed by Andrea Giuliano. “‘Gaza. Prima del silenzio’ is a play that poignantly recounts the pain, destruction and resistance of the people of Gaza”, declares d’Alfonso. “Through the poetry and music of Palestinian authors, but also through international news and some extracts from the book ‘Sudari’ (‘Shrouds’) by Paola Caridi, the names and faces of many of the victims, their white shrouds and the numbers of the tragedy become symbols of collective remembrance and responsibility. An invitation to look, listen and bear witness: between silence and signs, loss and hope, the word becomes a tool to stop the massacre and remember what the world risks forgetting”.
The exhibition continues in the Hall of Emperors with “Holm (Sogno)”, a project curated by Dino Verga and Francesca Penzani, with students from the first two years of the School of Choreography of the National Academy of Dance - Asia Cei, Zhu Chenxi, Chiara Corradi, Laura De Stefano, Giada Guzzo, Gaia Mutalipassi, Chen Zhiheng - and music by Emel Mathlouthi. According to the Academy, this work “integrates choreography and video, offering an original and conscious contribution to a collective reflection on an issue of extreme relevance to the contemporary world, such as the Palestinian question, entrusting the language of dance and image with the task of opening up a space for thought, listening, and responsibility”.
In the Hall of David, it will be possible to admire “Chi sei tu? Bella domanda” (“Who are you? A good question”), an installation by the students of the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome. The work, made up of words and images that describe reality, falls within the field of relational art, an artistic practice that arises from encounters between people. It is not limited to the creation of an object, but takes shape through relationships and the participation of the public, who become an active part of the artistic experience. Unlike traditional art, relational art exists in a specific moment and space, inviting visitors to participate and contribute to the construction or, as in this case, the deconstruction of the work. Viewers are invited to take the sheets of paper that make up the work to preserve the memory of what is happening.
Then, the Hall of the Apostles will host the Santa Cecilia Conservatory: Senka Slipać on the violin and Yehbija Hodžić playing the accordion. Both originally from Sarajevo, they will play pieces by Vivaldi, Kosorić and Monti.
The itinerary proposed by the Day of the Arts will conclude in the Hall of Daniel, with the installation “Fuoco” (“Fire”), curated by diocesan Caritas of Rome and created by the workshop “Immaginare e costruire lo spazio” (Imagining and Building Space) with Edoardo Tresoldi, curated by Chiara Pietropaoli, as part of “ArtBeat: il cuore della Periferia” (“ArtBeat: the heart of the periphery”), a Caritas Rome project aimed at young people to combat social and cultural marginalization through artistic practice.
Participants were guided through a process of conception, design, and creation of a collective work in metal mesh, conceived as site-specific through concrete activities, to imagine new ways of inhabiting space, exploring the link between art, place, and community.
Journalists and media operators who wish to participate must apply, no later than 24 hours before the event, exclusively via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.
Giulia Rocchi, Press and Social Communications Office of the Vicariate of Rome,
tel. +390669886343/150; +393393749085
e-mail stampa@diocesidiroma.it; giulia.rocchi@diocesidiroma.it
10 February 2026
Press Release: Vicariate of Rome – Third Edition of the Day of the Arts – Event on Saturday 14 February at the Lateran Palace dedicated to Gaza
