France - Italy/Rome and Paris celebrate 70 years of twinning between the two capitals

To celebrate the anniversary of the agreement, Anne Hidalgo will visit Rome and Mayor Roberto Gualtieri will fly to Paris. Exhibitions are planned to celebrate the friendship between the two cities.

"Mr. Jacques Féron, President, and the members of the Paris City Council Board would like to ask Mr. and Mrs. X to honour with their presence the ceremony of the Twinning of Paris and Rome". Kept at the Musée Carnavalet, this invitation commemorates the signing of the twinning agreement between Rome and Paris 70 years ago. Since then, the two capitals have been linked by an exclusive bond.

70th anniversary: celebrations and events

To mark the 70th anniversary of the twinning between the two cities, Anne Hidalgo, current mayor of Paris, will visit Rome on Thursday, January 29, 2026. She will take part in the inauguration of the Center of Photography in the Testaccio district. The venue will host photographs by Irving Penn for its inaugural exhibition - open to the public from January 29. The American photographer's images are on loan from the Maison Européenne de la Photographie. At the end of the afternoon, the institutional delegation will make a stop at the Trevi Fountain to admire the illumination dedicated to the twinning.
The following day, Friday January 30, 2026, it will be Roman mayor Roberto Gualtieri's turn to visit Paris. The twinning between Rome and Paris is much more than a symbolic anniversary: it's a history of friendship, collaboration and shared values that continues to grow," said the Mayor of Rome. In an international context marked by tensions and uncertainties, privileged relations such as this are of even greater value, as a bulwark of cooperation, dialogue and democratic values. "

The anniversary celebrations kicked off on New Year's Eve 2026, with spectacular light projections illuminating via del Corso in Rome and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Exhibitions, concerts and discussions are also on the programme for the rest of the anniversary year. The Académie de France à Rome - Villa Médicis will host Italy's first retrospective dedicated to Agnès Varda. And this summer, Paris and Rome will once again pay tribute to each other with five days dedicated to cinema. On one side "Dolcevita-sur-Seine", on the other "Nouvelle Vague sul Tevere": a mirror program, French in Rome, Italian in Paris, transforming the cultural twinning into a veritable creative laboratory.

The history of twinning

After the Second World War, the French federalist movement known as "La Fédération" advocated closer ties between European communities. The aim was to forge closer ties between municipalities in the aftermath of the war. On November 4, 1951, the first twinning agreement between two municipalities was signed: Troyes was linked with Tournai (Belgium).
Five years later, on January 30, 1956, Rome and Paris, the first two capitals, were united in the Paris City Hall. The ceremony, attended by Salvatore Rebecchini and Jacques Féron - President of the Paris City Council, as there was no mayor elected by universal suffrage - marked the coming together of two founding cities of European civilization. The famous motto "Only Paris is worthy of Rome, only Rome is worthy of Paris" sealed the twinning.

A she-wolf in Paris, a nave in Rome

The municipalities also decided to ratify their exclusive friendship with gifts: Rome donated a replica of its Capitoline she-wolf. The bronze illustrates the transmission of the founding myth from Rome to Paris. The sculpture is now on display in the Square Samuel-Paty in the 5th arrondissement.
In return, Paris offers a bronze nave, a symbol of exchange and diplomacy. Located in Via Parigi, in the Roman district of Castro Pretorio, the sculpture is the historic emblem of Paris. The two pieces symbolize the cultural bridge between the two cities. This link will be renewed in 2022, giving Parisian residents free access to Roman civic museums and Roman residents free admission to Parisian museums.

Source: lepetitjournal.com/