In ancient Roman religion, holidays were celebrated to worship and celebrate a certain god or divine event, and consisted of religious observances and festival traditions, usually with a large feast, and often featuring games (ludi). The most important festivals were the Saturnalia, the Consualia, the Lupercalia and the rites of the Bona Dea. Among the most useful sources for Ancient Roman holidays is Ovid's Fasti, a poem that documents in detail the festivals of January to June at the time of Augustus. Festivals held annually were part of the Roman calendar.

Festivals were also held in ancient Rome in response to particular events, or for a particular purpose such as to assuage or to honour the gods. For example, Livy reports that following the Roman destruction of Alba Longa in the 7th century BC, and the removal of the Alban populace to Rome, it was reported to have rained stones on the Mons Albanus. A Roman deputation was sent to investigate the report, and a further shower of stones was witnessed. The Romans took this to be a sign of the displeasure of the Alban gods, the worship of whom had been abandoned with the evacuation of Alba Longa. Livy goes on to say that the Romans instituted a public festival of nine days, at the instigation either of a 'heavenly voice' heard on the Mons Albanus, or of the haruspices. Livy also says that it became the longstanding practice in Rome that whenever a shower of stones was reported, a festival of nine days would be ordered in response.

Ottorino Respighi (Italian pronunciation: [ottoˈriːno resˈpiːɡi]; 9 July 1879 – 18 April 1936) was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome (Le fontane di Roma); Pines of Rome (I pini di Roma); and Roman Festivals (Feste romane). His musicological interest in 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century music led him to also compose pieces based on the music of this period. He also wrote a number of operas, the best known being La fiamma.

Ottorino Respighi was born in Bologna, Italy. He was taught piano and violin by his father, who was a local piano teacher. He went on to study violin and viola with Federico Sarti at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna, composition with Giuseppe Martucci, and historical studies with Luigi Torchi, a scholar of early music. A year after receiving his diploma in violin in 1899, Respighi went to Russia to be principal violist in the orchestra of the Russian Imperial Theatre in St Petersburg during its season of Italian opera. While there he studied composition for five months with Rimsky-Korsakov. He then returned to Bologna, where he earned a second diploma in composition. Until 1908 his principal activity was as first violin in the Mugellini Quintet. In 1908-09 he spent some time performing in Germany before returning to Italy and turning his attention entirely to composition. Many sources indicate that while he was in Germany he studied briefly with Max Bruch, but in her biography of the composer, Respighi's wife asserts that this is not the case.