Italian Summer Festivals
15/07/2011
Summer is filled with Italian festivals and you'll find them almost everywhere, from big cities to tiny villages.
In August you'll find many small festivals in Italy. Look for brightly-colored posters for a festa or sagra on weekends in August, where you can usually sample inexpensive regional food. Many Italians take vacations in August, often to the seaside, so you're more likely to find small festivals there. You may run across a medieval festival that includes people dressed in medieval costumes. There are also many outdoor music performances in August.
Below is a list of some Italian festivals and holidays in August to look out for:
August 15, Ferragosto (Assumption Day), is a national holiday so many businesses and shops will be closed. You'll find celebrations in many places in Italy on this day and the days before and after, often including music, food, and fireworks. In some big cities like Rome and Milan, however, the city will empty out as Italians leave the city for the beaches and mountains.
Bigger festivals
Tuscan Sun Festival is an annual music and arts Festival that takes place within the intimate setting of the medieval town of Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany. This lifestyle Festival offers an exciting program that includes not only world class concerts, but a daily program of events that explore fine arts, culinary & wine, wellness, and local culture & history.
Each evening, concerts featuring some of the world's most distinguished artists are performed in the intimate setting of the Romantic-period theatre, Teatro Signorelli. Visit www.tuscansunfestival.com for more information.
- Medieval Palio - Felire in the Veneto region holds a medieval festival the first weekend in August with a parade and archery competition.
- La Quintana - Ascoli Piceno, in Le Marche region, holds a historic jousting tournament the first Sunday in August. The tournament, one of the best medieval festivals in the Marche, is preceded by a huge parade with people dressed in fifteenth century costume.
- Festa della Madonna della Neve, on August 5, celebrates a miraculous summer snowfall in the fourth century that prompted the building of the Santa Maria Maggiore Church, one of Rome's main churches.The snow is recreated with flower petals at the church.
- Palio del Golfo, a rowing race between the 13 maritime villages that border the Bay of La Spezia is held the first Sunday in August in the water off the promenade in La Spezia.
- Giostra di Simone, in the Tuscany town of Montisi, is held the Sunday afternoon closest to August 5. First there's a costumed parade followed by a tournament of knights representing the four contrade, or neighborhoods, of the town.
- Palio of the Pupe, in Cappelle sul Tavo near Pescara, is a night parade of huge effigies that eventually explode with fireworks.
- Festa del Mare - Diano Marina in Liguria holds a festival of the sea with a good fireworks display on August 15.
- Castelli, a village in the Abruzzo region famous for its ceramics, celebrates August 15 by tossing all the imperfect ceramics from a height, smashing them in a dramatic fashion.
- Festa dei Candelieri - The festival of the candle in Sassari, Sardinia, dates back to the 16th century. In this exciting festival held on August 16, you'll see a race with teams of men bearing huge and very heavy candles.
- Palio of Siena - The second round of the famous Palio race in Siena is August 16 (the first race was July 2). 10 of Sienna's 17 contrade, districts, compete in an exciting bareback horse race around Siena's central piazza. The winner gets the silk palio. Siena gets very crowded around the time of the Palio so plan ahead if you're going.
- The Miracle of the White Madonna is celebrated with a torchlight procession in the Ligurian seaside village of Portovenere on August 17.
- La Fuga del Bove, Escape of the Ox, is a 3-week festival in Tuscany's town of Montefalco. Events include processions in historic costumes, music, food and drink, and competitions among the town's four quarters.
- La Perdonanza, the Pope's pardon, is celebrated August 28-29 in the Abruzzo capital of L'Aquila with two days of processions in elaborate historic costume.
The Taste of an Italian Summer for the Corporate World
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