The City of Rome Pipe Band was founded in 2000 following a number of events: The first was surely the passion felt for this music by the original founders.
A small group of 3 pipers already existed, and it was only after a few months' of cultural exchange, that Simon Emslie (at the time a member of the 'Grade 1' Vale of Atholl Pipe Band), was living in Rome, saw the light for a real and true pipe band with bagpipes and a bass drum.
It was May 2001 that the newly born City of Rome Pipe Band, under Simon's lead, a the Band's first Pipe Major, gave its first concert in front of the Coliseum. The Band still didn't have a uniform but there was a lot of passion and a strong bond of friendship that lasted the proof of time.
The Band continued to grow in terms of both number, in the quality of its music and in its organisation, and over the last ten years it has overcome International borders, and its line-up included members from 4 continents, although some have gone and others have come.
The City of Rome Pipe Band's first real uniform was worn for the first time on the occasion of the '6 Nations' rugby tournament between Italy and Scotland in February 2002, at which the Band played Scotland's national anthem in front of thousands of spectators not only in the stadium but also through International television. This has become a fixed event every two years on the band's calendar. The first tartan work by the band was the 'Prince Charles Edward Stuart', dedicated to the famous Scottish prince who was born in Rome to a Roman mother and who is buried in Rome.
As time went on, request for the band grew both in number and in importance, taking the band to perform in many piazzas and even in famous theatres; from weddings to large events. And even to participating in pipe band competitions in Scotland and in France.
The City of Rome Pipe Band first participated in the annual World Pipe Band Championships at Glasgow Green, in Scotland, in 2003, which was the first time many of the band's members had the opportunity to visit Scotland and its beautiful countryside which has so inspired the music of the Great Highland Bagpipe. The Band once again participated in these championships in both 2005 and in 2007.
In was in fact on the occasion of the 'Worlds' in 2005 that the band inaugurated its new tartan, its very own 'City of Rome' tartan, designed, fabricated and officially registered in the Registers of Scottish Tartans by the band members themselves, with the support of Ken Clark.
The City of Rome Pipe Band continues along its way, diffusing the culture of the land of the thistle, with the music of the Great Highland Bagpipe and its drums, although with its own Italian, and even Roman, flavour.
A small group of 3 pipers already existed, and it was only after a few months' of cultural exchange, that Simon Emslie (at the time a member of the 'Grade 1' Vale of Atholl Pipe Band), was living in Rome, saw the light for a real and true pipe band with bagpipes and a bass drum.
It was May 2001 that the newly born City of Rome Pipe Band, under Simon's lead, a the Band's first Pipe Major, gave its first concert in front of the Coliseum. The Band still didn't have a uniform but there was a lot of passion and a strong bond of friendship that lasted the proof of time.
The Band continued to grow in terms of both number, in the quality of its music and in its organisation, and over the last ten years it has overcome International borders, and its line-up included members from 4 continents, although some have gone and others have come.
The City of Rome Pipe Band's first real uniform was worn for the first time on the occasion of the '6 Nations' rugby tournament between Italy and Scotland in February 2002, at which the Band played Scotland's national anthem in front of thousands of spectators not only in the stadium but also through International television. This has become a fixed event every two years on the band's calendar. The first tartan work by the band was the 'Prince Charles Edward Stuart', dedicated to the famous Scottish prince who was born in Rome to a Roman mother and who is buried in Rome.
As time went on, request for the band grew both in number and in importance, taking the band to perform in many piazzas and even in famous theatres; from weddings to large events. And even to participating in pipe band competitions in Scotland and in France.
The City of Rome Pipe Band first participated in the annual World Pipe Band Championships at Glasgow Green, in Scotland, in 2003, which was the first time many of the band's members had the opportunity to visit Scotland and its beautiful countryside which has so inspired the music of the Great Highland Bagpipe. The Band once again participated in these championships in both 2005 and in 2007.
In was in fact on the occasion of the 'Worlds' in 2005 that the band inaugurated its new tartan, its very own 'City of Rome' tartan, designed, fabricated and officially registered in the Registers of Scottish Tartans by the band members themselves, with the support of Ken Clark.
The City of Rome Pipe Band continues along its way, diffusing the culture of the land of the thistle, with the music of the Great Highland Bagpipe and its drums, although with its own Italian, and even Roman, flavour.