The mafia and jazz may seem an odd combination, but on 21 April the Rome city council inaugurated a new centre for jazz, La casa del Jazz , in a magnificent 1930s villa which had been confiscated from a mafia boss. The opening is being celebrated with three days of free concerts on 22, 23 and 24 April. The trio Gianluca Petrella will play on Friday 22 April, Flavio Boltro and Fabrizio Bosso on Saturday 23 April, both concerts will begin at 19.00. On Sunday 24 April at 12.00 the Lino Patruno Jazz show will play. These concerts will be followed by a jazz week from 7 14 May. The new jazz centre in Villa Osio, Via di Porta Ardeatina 55, has a library, recording facilities, rehearsal rooms and a small concert hall, with seating for 150 people, as well as a bookshop and a restaurant.

The restoration of the building has cost the city 6.5 million and it includes a commemorative slab inscribed with the names of more than 600 people who have died victims of the mafia.