Image: Diego Bortone / Suomen Rooman-suurlähetystö

Italy's gift to Finland to celebrate a hundred years of independence is to include the illumination of the Colosseum, the Roman amphitheatre in the Italian capital.

On 5 December the monument will be lit up in blue and white, the Finnish Embassy in Rome announced on Monday. Finland's hundredth Independence Day is on 6 December.

There will also be Finnish Lutheran mass services in Rome, Assisi and Milan at which Finnish carols will also be sung. A selection of Finnish landmarks will also be illuminated in the week leading up to Independence Day, starting with Savonlinna's Olavinlinna Castle on Tuesday 28 November.

The celebrations can be followed at yle.fi/news and via the #suomi100 hashtag.