Rome Letter: There was a lot of talk about curfews and timekeeping in this household over the last weekend. The reason was simple enough. Last weekend witnessed the second edition of Rome's Notte Bianca (literally, white night or night without sleep) when an estimated two million people took to the streets of the Eternal City for a mega street party-cum-arts festival, writes Paddy Agnew
15-year-old Roisin and her pals were determined not to miss out on this God-given opportunity to be out and about in Rome, well after the normal curfew hours.
Lengthy negotiations with the Baroness ensued, promises were made and eventually the green light given on condition that the subjects in question return to a friend's house in or around midnight.
At the best of times, Italian teenagers require little encouragement to get out and about in order to stare insieme (just hang out together).
Given that this was a white night that featured more than 1,000 artists in 300 events including concerts, theatre, cinema and art shows, not to mention the bonus of free public transport and free access to many of the city's great museums, this was clearly not an occasion to be missed.
Pater familias, dull fellow that he is, was actually heading into Rome last Saturday night not to participate in the fun but rather to work in TV studios.
Thus it was that I resumed the role of family chauffeur (cap not required) to two giggling, much perfumed and even more bejewelled 15-year-olds who between them had spent 17 hours and 39 minutes in front of various mirrors preparing for the Notte Bianca.
As Roisin and her Saudi pal, Yara, headed off into the Roman night in search of friends, fun and entertainment, the night was already alive with expectation.
However, before the fun proper began, Romans were reminded of matters less joyful and more grave when Annamaria Torretta, Roman mother of one of the two Italian NGO women workers currently being held hostage in Iraq, addressed the crowd at the opening event in Michelangelo's Campidoglio square. Graciously, Signora Torretta thanked the crowd for the sense of solidarity shown by the people of Rome to her family, to her daughter Simona and to her daughter's friend, Simona Pari and to the two Iraqi hostages captured along with them, Raad Ali Abdul Azziz and Mahnouz Bassam.
The Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, then took up the microphone to say: "Tonight represents one way of living Rome and living in Rome. Whilst a city like London might opt to impose a curfew on youngsters, we chose to express our notion of a city in this manner. From Rome tonight, we send out a message that is about dialogue, about hope in the face of terrorism". The Notte Bianca in Rome will almost certainly have no impact whatsoever on the Italian hostage crisis in Iraq. It is and was, however, a bold and energetic way of saying no to a new Italian mindset that (in a very non-Mediterranean way) increasingly feels frightened by and alienated from life "out there", on the streets.
That comment, by the way, is not based on intuition or speculation but on the results of recent opinion poll after opinion poll in which modern Italians express grave concern about personal security and law-and-order issues. Thus it was that, for once, the dreaded motor car was evicted from the centre of Rome last Saturday night as every major and minor thoroughfare in the centro storico developed into a human traffic jam. Many of those who had mapped out their route for the night - a quick plate of pasta at a trattoria, jazz at the Pincio, the Cirque du Soleil at the Spanish Steps, a tour of the Capitoline Museum and a sculpture exhibition in Trajan's Market - found that the best laid plans went AWOL as the huge crowds made getting from A to B a major logistical exercise.
Not mind you that the large numbers spoiled the fun for the 15-year-olds who, in any case, had not made a priority of culture-vulturing at the Globe Theatre in Villa Borghese or in a front row seat at the big screen showing Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte". Roisin and her pals had a great night out, wandering from pillar to post before struggling hard to find a taxi to take them home (curfew respected, more or less).
With magnanimity , Roisin pronounced the Notte Bianca a night for everyone, "from families out with their babies, toddlers and grandparents through to groups of Zecca Boys".
Indeed. Zecca Boys, by the way, are post-hippie alternativi easily distinguished by their heavy leather clothing not to say metal adornments on nose, ear, lip etc.
If you are in Rome next mid-September, prepare for a sleepless Saturday night.