Rome city council found an unusual way to celebrate International Women's Day on the 8 March 2012 by bathing some of its most famous female statues in a rosy glow. For the occasion, Anita Garibaldi on Gianicolo Hill became pink, along with St. Catherine of Siena in the gardens of Castel Sant'Angelo, the Goddess Rome on the Campidoglio square and writers and poetesses like Vittoria Colonna and Grazia Deledda on their perches in the Villa Borghese gardens.

The ancient Roman statue in Piazza Venezia, known as Madama Lucrezia was also lit up with pink lighting. She was one of the traditional Talking Statues of Rome where citizens left notes with their complaints against the government in yesteryears. Who knows what she had to say about this initiative? It was making her blush!