Rome, global city? Church, state and the Jubilee 2000

Abstract

This paper explores the Holy Year (Jubilee) held in Rome in 2000 in the context of debates about the global nature of cities. It argues that the event clarified the importance of ‘Rome’ to powerful political actors, which crudely correspond to the left-right division of post-war Italian politics, with the Vatican an important player in negotiating this divide. However, it is suggested that the spatial reach of these actors is uneven, yet that both exploit the ‘global’ event as a means of expanding their scalar power. Through a discussion of four aspects of the event—the nature of Rome as a capital city, the role of the mayor, Francesco Rutelli, the Gay Pride march that took place during the Holy Year, and the urban planning debates that surrounded its staging—the politicisation and scalar politics of Rome are elaborated.