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Italy
Festivals |
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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been replaced by elegant, self-conscious affairs, with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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