Holidays & Festivals

Italy:

Holidays:
Offices and shops in Italy are closed on the following national holidays: January 1 (New Year's Day), Easter Monday, April 25 (Liberation Day), May 1 (Labor Day), August 15 (Assumption of the Virgin), November 1 (All Saints' Day), December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception), December 25 (Christmas Day), and December 26 (Santo Stefano). Many offices and business also close on June 29, for the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, the city's patron saints.

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 most entertaining, especially those of Martedi Grasso (Shrove Tuesday). Throughout Italy the occasion is celebrated with colorful pageants, masquerades, dancing and music.

Siena:
There are festivals held throughout the year in Siena. At the beginning of the year, in February, is Oil and Wine Week where these Tuscan delicacies are featured in workshops and free tastings directed by Enoteca Italiana and the National Oil City Association. Also in February is Carnival of Asciano, a procession of traditional carnival chariots, music bands and folklore activities. The spring and summer brings events such as Festival of the Wild Boar in April and Serre Maggio during the second week of May. Ferie delle Messi is held in July. This medieval celebration fills the city’s streets and squares with traveling performers, storytellers and vendors selling wine, oil and local crafts. The largest of these is the Palio di Siena (July and August), which is a medieval horse race that is run around Piazza del Campo. This event fills Siena with excitement when these dangerous competitions take place. On the third weekend of September, the antiques street market Mercatino della Scialenga is held in the city center.

Rome

Festivals
Rome is, together with Milan, 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 a local Roman event.