Holidays & Festivals

Italy:

Festivals:
New Year's Day (Capo d’Anno) is celebrated with church services, parties, and all kinds of festivities. Children receive strenna, or money gifts, from their parents, while friends and relatives send each other flowers and bunches of mistletoe. Since early times Italians have attributed mistletoe with such miraculous properties as healing sickness and aiding fertility. Today a piece of mistletoe is hung over the door to "bring luck" to the entire household. On January 5th, is Epiphany (La Vigilia Dell’Epifania), the feast that commemorates the visit of the Three Kings to the manger. Also, on Epiphany Eve children receive gifts in memory of the presents the Wise Men offered the Christ Child. Carnevale always begins on January 17 and continues until Ash Wednesday. The ceremonies of the last three days of the carnival are the entertaining, especially those of Martedi Grasso (Shrove Tuesday). Throughout Italy the occasion is celebrated with colorful pageants, masquerades, dancing and music.

Florence:
Many festivals in Florence take place from spring to fall, with the majority occurring in the summer. In June, is Calcio in Costume where athletes wear colorful costumes and take part in a soccer match that commemorates the famous match in 1530. Festa de San Giovanni’s fireworks display is a must not to be missed. In the first week of September is Rificolona. Children of Florence come into the streets in their Sunday best singing songs and carrying papier-mâché lanterns. This festival celebrates the day in 1555 when troops of Florence triumphantly entered Siena.

Assisi:
Dedicated to Saint Francis, the Calendimaggio festival is celebrated on the first Thursday, Friday and Saturday of May every year. The flower-patterned streets are open to the public and the tourists, with the citizens dressed in a colorful range of period costumes. The celebrations include competitions with love songs, games and events. The festival leads to the prestigious Palio which is contested by two groups for a valuable prize.


Rome:

Festivals:
Rome, together with Milan, is the city where most cultural events such as exhibitions, concerts and shows take place in Italy. Whether it’s the Roma Jazz Festival or the Donna Sotto le Stelle—the annual Roman appointment with high fashion, where creations by the most famous fashion designers are modeled on a catwalk in a truly magnificent setting on the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna—you are likely to indulge in an extraordinary local Roman event.