St. Patrick's Day 2024 in Italy
This year, we had the honour of welcoming Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler T.D., to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with us here in Italy.
Visit of Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler, T.D. to Italy for St. Patrick's Day
Minister Butler first visited Milan for a series of engagements with our State Agencies Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland, and Tourism Ireland. As part of Milan Ireland Week organised by Tourism Ireland, Minister Butler visited the outdoor photographic exhibition “Ireland on the road” and also attended the "Experience Ireland" showcase, where she met a series of Irish entrepreneurs displaying their food and beverage offerings.
In Rome, the Minister was guest of honour at the St. Patrick's Day reception at the Embassy of Ireland, where she had the opportunity to meet with the diplomatic community and representatives of the Irish community in Italy. The Minister delivered a speech stressing Ireland’s commitment to peace, global cooperation, and multilateralism and the strong ties between Italy and Ireland.
St. Patrick’s Week wraps up!
While the successful Milan Ireland Week is now a fixture in the St. Patrick’s Day calendar, 2024 saw the launch of the first ever Rome Ireland Week!
Celebrations started on 9 March with a GAA showdown, where Lazio GAA took home the Cormac Cup, with Milan GAA putting up fine opposition in what were challenging weather conditions.
St. Patrick’s Day is all about going green, and on 10 March with our friends at Retake Roma, we organised a clean up of the Pyramide Cestia area. That evening, with the Casa della Cultura Irlandese, we held a Pop up Gaeltacht at the Druid's Den, where bingo as Gaeilge and in italiano was played. On Saturday 16 March, we joined the Irish Club of Rome to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the Irish community – not forgetting of course Ireland’s Six Nations victory.
This year, the theme of St. Patrick’s Day was all about youth, and the Embassy visited the Biblioteca Europea in Rome to donate a selection of children’s books by Irish authors, both in English and in Irish – the first Irish language books available at the library!
The Embassy was also proud to donate three trees to a nursery school on Via degli Irlandesi, in collaboration with the Comune di Roma, demonstrating the strong roots of friendship between Ireland and Italy.
We were also delighted to bring a piece of Ireland to Rome, with ROIS Dance School participating in a special episode of the RTE Late Late Show. In case you missed it, watch the video here!