The 21st edition of Rome’s annual world music festival returns to the shores of the little lake in the gardens of Villa Ada from 2-31 July.

One of the capital’s most enduring and continuous initiatives, the event has been hampered by lack of funding in recent times and this year its programme wasn't released until the eleventh hour.

The festival offers interesting multi-ethnic and multi-cultural music in very pleasant surroundings but, similar to last year, there are less international names on the line-up than in the past.

However the names that stand out include Australian act Dub FX (2 July); veteran American R&B musician Booker T. Jones (17 July); French band Nouvelle Vague (18 July); and seminal English punk band Buzzcocks (28 July).

The festival area opens each night at 20.00 so that the public can enjoy food and drink from one of the ethnic food stalls before the music kicks off at 22.00.

There are ticket discounts for families, the unemployed, and students. For full details see website.