With seven months to go until the start of UEFA EURO 2020 which will kick off with Roberto Mancini’s Italy facing Turkey at the Stadio Olimpico at 21:00 CEST on Friday 12th June, Rome is working to be ready for the tournament. The Eternal City is paying particular focus to entertainment and hospitality for tourists and fans who will head there for fixtures this summer.

In Group A, the Azzurri were the only side along with Belgium to win every single qualifier. Italy will play all three of their group stage matches at the Olimpico, facing Switzerland at 21:00 CEST on Wednesday 17th June and Wales at 18:00 CEST ON Sunday 21st June. UEFA 2020 project director at Roma Capitale Stefano Lori discussed how the city is preparing at an even organised by UEFA’s partner booking.com. Prestigious settings have been selected with the media centre at Terrazza del Pincio while the Football Village will be at Piazza del Popolo with two small pitches. The Fan Zone will stretch from Villa Borghese to the Colosseum, going across Piazza Venezia and the Imperial Forums.

The main stage will be on Largo Corrado Ricci where the Dutch DJ Martin Garrix will perform on Thursday 11th June for the opening concert as the official artist named by UEFA. In the same area, there will be a big screen for Azzurri matches and a second big screen will be in Piazza del Popolo for other matches at EURO 2020.

The main build-up events in Rome will start on 4 March, 100 days before the start of EURO 2020 and the Trophy Tour will bring the Henri Delaunay Cup to the city as it travels from Fiumicino to Castel Santa’Angelo. An estimated 1 million visitors are expected to arrive in Rome in the month of the matches.

Online travel company booking.com will help make things easy for fans and tourists. “With over 29 million rooms around the world and around 15,000 in Rome, we’re a reliable accommodation partner for travellers who move around the various cities,” said Alberto Yates, regional manager of Booking.com Italia. We saw that with the draw, Rome was the fourth-most booked destination for the Wales game. Overall, out of the twelve hosts, it’s the second most-booked after St Petersburg.”