| Italy has few national festivals, but there is no shortage of
celebrations, saints' days being the usual excuse for some kind of binge.
All cities, small towns and villages have their local saint, who is
normally paraded through the streets amid much noise and spectacle.
There is no end of other occasions for a festa - either to commemorate a
local miracle or historic event, or to show off the local products or
artistic talent. Many happen at Easter, or in May, September or around
Ferragosto (August 15); the local tourist office will have details and
exact dates.
Recently there's also been a revival of the carnival ( Carnevale ), the
last fling before Lent, although the anarchic fun that was enjoyed in
the past has generally been replaced by elegant, self-conscious affairs,
with ingenious costumes and handmade masks. Venice has the most famous
carnival - a well-organized event that is so popular it sometimes takes
over the entire city centre - and there are other, equally large and
perhaps more fun events such as at Viareggio in Tuscany and Acireale in
Sicily, while smaller towns will often put on a parade. A carnival
usually lasts for the five days before Ash Wednesday; because it's
connected with Easter the dates can change from year to year - count on
some time between the end of February and end of March.
Religious and traditional festivals
Perhaps the most widespread local event in Italy is the religious
procession , some of which can be very dramatic affairs. Many - perhaps
all - have strong pagan roots, marking important dates on the calendar
and only relatively recently sanctified by the Church. One of the best
known takes place in the small village of Cocullo in the Abruzzi
mountains, on May 6 (St Dominic Abate's Day), when a statue of the saint,
swathed in snakes, is carried through the town - a ritual that certainly
dates back to pre-Christian times. Good Friday , for obvious reasons, is
also a popular time for processions. In many towns and villages models
of Christ taken from the Cross are paraded through towns accompanied by
white-robed, hooded figures singing penitential hymns. The west coast of
Sicily sees many of these, as do other places across the south - Táranto,
Reggio, Bari, Bríndisi . On the following Saturday a procession of
flagellants makes its way through Nocera Tirinese in Calabria. Later on
in the year, elaborate presepi (nativity scenes) are displayed during
the days leading up to Christmas in Naples and Verona (in Naples
especially presepi are a popular local craft), and the nativity figures
are prominent in the large-scale Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio in Milan . At
Epiphany (January 6) a toy-and-sweet fair, dedicated to the good witch
Befana, lasts until dawn around the fountains of Piazza Navona in Rome .
On the same day a procession of the Rei Magi (Three Kings) passes
through Milan, and there are live tableaux at Rivisondoli in Abruzzo.
There are plenty of other festive events, for instance the famous Festa
di San Gennaro in Naples , where much superstition surrounds the
miraculous liquefaction of the saint's blood three times a year.
Other ritual celebrations bear less of the Church's imprint, and a
Communist mayor and local bishop will jointly attend a town's saint's
day celebration, where the separate motivations to make some money, have
a good time and pay some spiritual dues all merge. Superstition and a
desire for good luck are part of it, too. In Gubbio there's a mad race
to the Church of San Ubaldo (May 5) with the Ceri - three phallic wooden
pillars each eight metres high. Similar obelisks are carried around in
other places. On September 3 a ninety-foot-tall Macchina di Santa Rosa ,
illuminated with tiny oil lamps, is paraded through Viterbo , and at
Nola , near Naples, around June 22, eight gigli (lilies) are carried
through the streets. Phallic though these may seem, the giant towers are
more likely to be associated with an ancient, goddess-worshipping
culture.
The number of practising Catholics in Italy is dwindling, and until
recently many feste were dying out. But interest in many festivals has
been revived over the last decade or so, especially in pilgrimages .
These are as much social occasions as spiritual journeys, some of them
more important to people than Christmas, and they still attract massive
crowds. As many as a million pilgrims travel through the night, mostly
on foot, to the Shrine of the Madonna di Polsi in the inhospitable
Aspromonte mountains in Calabria, while Sardinia's biggest festival, the
Festa di Sant'Efisio , sees a four-day march from Cágliari to Pula and
back, to commemorate the saint's martyrdom. And there are other shrines
and sanctuaries all over Italy, mostly in inaccessible hilltop locations,
some of them visited regularly by families from the surrounding area
keen for a day out, others just the subject of a once-a-year trek.
Other traditions survive: on the Day of the Dead (All Saints' Day) on
November 1, children receive presents, given on behalf of dead relatives,
to make them feel that the people they were close to still think of them.
There are festivals that evoke local pride in tradition, too, medieval
contests like the Palio horse race in Siena perpetuating allegiances to
certain competing clans; Palio races take place in a few other centres,
Alba and Asti in Piemonte for example, though most have been revived
more to support the tourist industry than anything else and can't
compete with the seriousness and vigour of Siena's contest. Other towns
put on crossbow, jousting and flag-twirling contests, marching bands in
full medieval costume accompanying the event with enthusiastic drumming;
these are far from staged affairs, with fierce rivalry between
participants.
Festivals diary
AGRIGENTO Almond blossom festival (March).
ALBA Giostra delle Cento Torri, Palio and costume parade (1st Sun in
Oct).
AMALFI Sant'Andrea's day (June 27).
AOSTA Fiera di Sant'Orso - thousand-year-old fair (End of Jan).
AREZZO Giostra del Saracino - jousting by knights in armour (1st Sun in
Sept).
ASCOLI PICENO Torneo della Quintana - jousting (1st weekend in Aug).
ASSISI Holy Week celebrations (Easter); Calendimaggio spring festa (1st
week in May).
ASTI Bareback riders from villages around take part in Palio (3rd Sun in
Sept).
BARI Sagra di San Nicola - pilgrims follow a boat carrying the saint's
image for a ceremony out at sea, in honour of the 47 sailors who saved
his bones from raiders (1st weekend in May).
BRISIGHELLA Medieval festival (End of June).
CAGLIARI Sagra di Sant Efisio - thousands of pilgrims accompany the
saint's statue in carts, on horseback or on foot (May 1).
CAMOGLI Sagra del Pesce - procession of boats, with a fish fry-up (2nd
Sun in May).
CAMPOBASSO Sagra dei Misteri (Beginning of June).
COCULLO Festa di San Domenico Abate - procession through the village
with a statue of the saint swathed in snakes (1st week in May).
DIANO MARINA Festival del Mare - fireworks (Aug 15).
DOLCEACQUA Festa di San Sebastiano - saint's day celebrated with a tree
covered with Communion hosts carried through town (Jan 20).
ENNA Celebrations for Holy Week (Easter).
FAVIGNANA La Mattanza - ritual slaughter of tuna (May/June).
FELTRE Medieval Palio (1st weekend in Aug).
FLORENCE Scoppio del Carro - firework display in the Piazza del Duomo (Easter
Sun); Festa di San Giovanni - fireworks and the Gioco di Calcio Storico,
a rough-and-tumble football game played between the four quarters of the
city in medieval costume (June 24 & 28).
FOLIGNO Torneo della Quintana - six hundred medieval knights in jousting
contest (2nd weekend in Sept).
GENOA Festa di San Giovanni (June 24).
GUBBIO Festa dei Ceri (May 5); Crossbow matches against San Sepolcro (Last
Sun in May).
LA SPEZIA Rowing contests in Palio del Golfo (Aug).
LUCCA Torchlight processions as part of Luminaria di Santa Croce (Aug
14).
LUNGRO Albanian celebrations (Easter).
MAROSTICA Human chess game (Every even year 2nd weekend in September)
MASSA MARITTIMA Crossbow competition (May 24).
MILAN Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio, also known as O Bei! O Bei! (December).
MONTEPULCIANO Bravio delle Botte, barrel-rolling race preceded by
procession, drums and flag-throwing (Last Sun in Aug).
NAPLES Festa di San Gennaro Gathering in the cathedral to witness the
liquefaction of the saint's blood (1st Sun in May, Sept 19, Dec 16).
NOCERA TIRINESE Flagellants' procession through the village (Easter
Sat).
NORCIA Crossbow matches and processions (March 20-21).
NOVOLI Bonfires in honour of Sant'Antonio Abate (Jan 17).
ORVIETO Corpus Christi procession (Mid-June).
PIANA DEGLI ALBANESI Byzantine celebrations (Easter and Epiphany).
PISA Luminaria - festival of lights (June 16-17); Gioco del Ponte,
tug-of-war game over main bridge, preceded by historical procession
(June 26); Historical regatta in costume (July 26 & 27).
PISTOIA Giostra dell Orso - Joust of the Bear (July 25).
PORTO CESAREO Luminaria - festival of lights (Aug 22).
ROME Befana, toy-and-sweet fair in Piazza Navona (Jan 6 - Epiphany);
Festa de'Noantri - dancing, songs and floats in Trastevere's piazzas
(July 16-24).
SAN MARCO IN LAMIS Fracchie - ritual of pagan origin in which bundles of
burning wood are hauled through the streets (Good Friday).
SAN SEPOLCRO Crossbow matches against Gubbio (2nd weekend in Sept).
SIENA Palio in medieval Campo (July 2 & Aug 16).
TAGGIA Festa della Maddalena with Dance of Death in main piazza (Sun
nearest to July 22).
VENICE Carnevale (Feb/March); Il Redentore - gondola procession,
fireworks, to commemorate the end of a sixteenth-century plague (3rd
week in July); Regatta (1st Sun in Sept).
VENTIMIGLIA Regatta and processions (Aug 9-10).
VIAREGGIO Carnevale (Feb/March).
VITERBO Procession of the Macchina di Santa Rosa (Sept 3).
Food festivals
Food -inspired feste are more low-key affairs than the religious events,
but no less enjoyable for it, usually celebrating the local speciality
of the region to the accompaniment of dancing, music from a local brass
band and noisy fireworks at the end of the evening. There are literally
hundreds of food festivals, sometimes advertised as sagre , and every
region has them - look in the local papers or ask at the tourist office
during summer and autumn and you're bound to find something going on.
Most are modest affairs, meant for the locals and little publicized -
but there are a few exceptions. In Tivoli , near Rome, the town's
fountains run with wine on the second Sunday in October; the same
happens in Città della Pieve in Umbria, in April, during the Festa delle
Fontane, and at nearby Panicale. Other notable events are Orvieto 's
wine festival each June, Bolzano 's in the second half of March or the
beginning of April, and the truffle fair and Palio in Alba on the first
Sunday in October. Generally though, the smaller events are better,
giving you a chance to join in the dancing and sample the cooking.
Arts festivals
The home-town pride that sparks off many of the food festivals also
expresses itself in some of the arts festivals spread across Italy,
particularly in the central part of the country - based in ancient
amphitheatres or other ruins or marking the work of a native composer,
and sometimes going on for as long as a month. Perhaps the most
prestigious is the Venice film festival in August and September. Spoleto
's summer Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) is also
well known, a two-month-long event of classical concerts, films, ballet,
street theatre and performance art, with its venue the open spaces of
the ancient walled town, that is the biggest arts festival in the
country nowadays. The Sferisterio in Macerata in Marche and the Roman
arena in Verona are two equally dramatic places to hear music in the
summer months. Similarly there's the Panatenee Pompeiane music festival,
held in the ruins of Pompeii during the last week of August. Bologna 's
summer festival often tries something different, with live bands playing
in its medieval palace courtyards and screenings of soap opera or art
movies in unexpected places. Other festivals remember a particular
composer: Puccini's music is celebrated from the end of July to
mid-August in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio , Rossini's in Pésaro from
mid-August to September. And it's worth noting the dates of the Italian
opera season , which begins in December and runs through until May or
June. The principal opera houses are La Scala in Milan, the Teatro
dell'Opera in Rome, La Fenice in Venice (currently closed after fire,
but there is a temporary replacement), the Teatro Comunale in Florence
and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. But there are also other, more
modest venues that have regular performances of opera throughout these
months.
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