Holidays

Holidays in Italy

Every nation in this world knows legal holidays and has them written into its constitution. Either they are festivals and parades or they are contemplative days prescribed by the church. This is also the case in Italy. Unlike Germany, for example, there are hardly any regional differences when it comes to public holidays, which ultimately means that, with a few exceptions, the entire nation is off work on certain dates.

Every year in Italy also begins with a day when shops and offices are closed. New Year’s Day is called Capodanno. The country recovers from the New Year’s Eve celebrations. Just six days later comes Epiphany, the first ecclesiastical feast of each January. Italy is famously a strict Catholic nation, so it is against this backdrop that this day, called Epifania, is celebrated.

Big celebrations are held in Italy every year, especially for Easter. The Vatican celebrates large processions in Rome, the Pope speaks his Urbi et Orbi and millions of tourists from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Italian capital. The main holiday, unlike in other countries, is Easter Monday, the Lunedi di Pasqua. Good Friday before is a normal working day and Easter Sunday, as a Sunday, is rather quiet anyway.

April 25 is a national holiday in Italy, Liberazione Italia Day. It is one of the most important days of the year and as the name suggests, it commemorates the liberation of the Bel Paese by Allied troops during World War II. It is celebrated with parades, concerts, demonstrations, speeches and many other festivities. The soldiers and the victims of the Nazi bombings are commemorated, as well as the partisans in the Italian resistance in particular.

The next anniversary in the Italian calendar is just like for example in Germany the Festa del lavoro, the day of work, which takes place annually on May 1st. In the big Italian cities, parades are held on this date and there are usually other festivities as well. In addition, May 1, which is a public holiday in the country, is also used by trade unions to demonstrate together with members and supporters.

Whitsunday is the most important at Pentecost. There are big celebrations at the Vatican, as is customary on Christian holidays in this strictly Catholic nation. Whit Monday, on the other hand, is usually celebrated only as a regional holiday and is especially important in the South Tyrol region. Here it is called Lunedi di Pentecoste. In the rest of the country, surprisingly, it is a normal working day.

The official national holiday in Italy is June 2. It is the Festa della Repubblica Italia. The day commemorates the institutional referendum in 1946 when the Italian people were called to the polls to determine the future form of government in their country. The years before had been dominated by fascism and World War II. The Republic was narrowly victorious over the monarchy. To commemorate this, a large military parade is held every year in the centre of the capital, Rome. It is taken down by the president of the Italian republic. A solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Vittoriano is also part of the Head of State’s programme. The ceremony continues in the afternoon hours with the opening of the gardens at the Quirinale Palace, which can be visited by the people on that day.

It will be just over two months before the next important date is officially celebrated throughout Italy. August 15 is Ferragosto, which in German means Assumption of the Virgin Mary, or the Day of Augustus. It is a high ecclesiastical day of rest. Just like All Saints Day on November 1st. This date is of course also pompously celebrated in the Vatican. It is called in Italian Ognissanti or also Tutti i Santi. Again, it gets ecclesiastical on Dec. 8, when it’s the Immaculate Conception, which in Italy is called Inmacolata Concezione.

As a Christian country, Christmas now naturally follows in the series of holidays in Bella Italia. Christmas Eve is of course celebrated everywhere, but as in Germany, the 24.December is not enshrined in the laws as a day off. Officially it is a normal working day. On Christmas Day, the Natale, the world looks to the Vatican and thus to Rome. In addition, the family celebrations take place in the whole Lan. Hardly less important is the 26.December, the Stefanstag, thus Santo Stefano.

No official holidays, from the Italians however with fervor committed, are the Valentine’s Day on 14.February and the mother day on a Sunday in the middle of May. La Mamma is very important in Italian families, as are women in general to the proud men of Italy. The latter have their Festa del Papà, Father’s Day, on a Tuesday in mid-March. It is also worth mentioning that many Italian cities pay homage to a local saint, on whose day all offices and even shops are closed. One example is Milan, which commemorates St Ambrose on December 7.