Many tourists walking around one Rome’s most famous landmarks, the Colosseum, in the evening of 30 April, might have wondered why it was in the dark.

As soon as the sun set, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy started playing at the Caffé Roma, just opposite the forum, and the flags of the EU and of the 10 Member States which joined the Union in 2004 were projected onto the walls of the magnificent monument to commemorate 20 years of the biggest enlargement of the block on 1 May of that year.

The event was co-organised by the Representation of the European Commission and the embassies in Rome of the 10 Member States concerned to mark the very significant date for Europe and for them.

Rome plays particular significance in the history of the EU, not only because it is the capital of the second largest founding member state, but also because it is the city where the Treaty of Rome, setting up what was then known as the European Economic Community, was signed amongst the leaders of the first six countries in 1957.

The original treaty is in fact housed in the Protomoteca of the City Hall of Rome, the Campidoglio, just across the Fori Imperiali from the Coliseum.

Any Maltese who happened to be near the Colosseum on Tuesday must have certainly had a proud moment to see the Maltese flag so prominently displayed on what is, perhaps, one of the world’s most recognisable monuments.