rome

Large surface area and materials indicate wealth of owners 

Excavation in city north of Barcelona reveals 40-meter stretch of first-century BC Roman road

Foreign action Minister pledges “more ambition” following office being closed due to Spain’s direct rule

From July 27 to August 25 ‘Amfiteatrvm’ will take spectators back 2,000 years to the time of the gladiators

Tarraco Viva ends 20th edition and looks ahead to what comes next

Goals from Džeko, De Rossi and Manolas allow Italians to turn around three-goal deficit and qualify for the semi-finals on the away goals rule

After 18 years of focusing exclusively on the Roman world, the ‘Tarraco Viva’ historical festival has included, for the first time, ancient Egyptian culture in its homage to the past. ‘Tarraco Viva’ is held every year in the Catalan city of Tarragona, and it’s estimated that this 2016 edition has already attracted more visitors than previous years. Happy that this “experiment” ultimately worked, director of the festival Seritjol Magi stated on Sunday that it was the combination of the two worlds that drew in aficionados from both fields. Now that the festival is over, organisers are already planning the coming years’ editions, and plan to include various different cultures in the event. ‘Tarraco Viva’ 2017 is to open its doors to ancient Greek culture and thereby focus largely on the beloved activity of the civilisation’s people: sports; also coinciding with the 2017 Mediterranean Games to be held in the same city. 

Goals from Neymar, Messi and Rakitic give the blaugranes a comfortable win over AS Roma in the team's final game of the 2015/16 pre-season. Luis Enrique's team brought pre-season to its conclusion at Camp Nou with a resounding victory over Italian AS Roma in the Gamper Trophy game. First half goals from Neymar and Leo Messi and another in the second half from Rakitic served to set the blaugranes on track for when silverware will be at stake, beginning with next Tuesday's trip to Tiblisi to take on Sevilla in the European Super Cup.

59 days after the celebrations for the historic treble achieved by the blaugranes last season, Camp Nou comes back to life after a summer hiatus with the visit of Italian side AS Roma for the traditional pre-season opening game at the stadium, the Joan Gamper Trophy. The clash with the Serie A club will mark the end of a pre-season which has taken Barça to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Florence. The first team will be presented to the fans before the game and a party atmosphere is guaranteed in the final test for Luis Enrique’s squad ahead of their attempt to claim the European and Spanish Super Cups. With the return of Claudio Bravo to training on Monday, Luis Enrique now has his entire first team squad back after the summer break, although Arda Turan and Douglas continue their respective recoveries from injury.

As was expected, the Constitutional Court has accepted the Spanish Government's appeal against the Catalan Law on External Action and Relations with the EU, which was approved last November and was already foreseen in the 2006 Catalan Statute of Autonomy. The Court's acceptance of a Spanish Government appeal automatically represents a temporary suspension of the legal measure for an initial 5-month period. The temporary suspension does not mean that the law will ultimately be suspended, but that there are enough reasons to study whether the Catalan law fits within the Constitution or not. According to the Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy, the law goes beyond the Catalan Government's attributions and invades the Spanish Executive's exclusive powers regarding international relations and the direction of Spain's external policy.

Vueling and American Airlines signed on Thursday an agreement to foster the interconnection of their flights through Barcelona El Prat Airport and Rome-Fiumicino so as to increase their destination network. The Barcelona-based airline offers 140 destinations from the Catalan capital to Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, and 55 from the Italian airport. American Airlines clients will be able to take a flight to Barcelona and transfer to a Vueling flight using a single ticket and pick up their luggage at their destination airport. In addition, Vueling clients will be able to take a flight to Barcelona and fly onwards to New York, Miami, Philadelphia and Charlotte through American Airlines or its subsidiary US Airways. This strategic agreement links Europe's widest network of short- and medium-distance flights, which is operated by Vueling through Barcelona, with transatlantic routes linking the Old Continent to important hubs in the United States.

The Spanish Government approved on Friday to take to the Constitutional Court Catalonia's Law of External Action and Relations with the EU and the opening of delegations in Vienna and Rome. The Spanish Executive will appeal against the law despite it being foreseen by the Catalan Statute of Autonomy – approved by the Spanish Parliament and the Catalan people through a binding referendum in 2006. This is Catalonia's main law after the Spanish Constitution and recognises the Catalan Government's right to carry out its own external action abroad. However, in the current debate about Catalonia's independence, the Spanish Government is reiterating its 'no-to-everything' attitude and recentralisation strategy and has appealed against the law approved by the Catalan Parliament on 26 November last.

The Catalan Government’s Deputy Minister for External Affairs, Roger Albinyana, announced the Executive’s aim to have a network of “about 50 delegations” throughout the world, representing Catalonia’s political, business and cultural interests abroad. The Catalan Government currently has 7 delegations abroad, after the new representations in Rome and Vienna start to work on Monday, when the representatives were appointed. The 5 others are located in Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin and Washington. In the coming “months and years”, the Catalan Government will continue to open new delegations. Regardless of the hypothetical independence from Spain, the Catalan Executive already has the powers to have its own External Action policy, recognised by the Catalan Statute of Autonomy from 2006, although with many limitations.