Ferragosto

Last updated

Ferragosto
Padova - Ferragosto.jpg
Ferragosto fireworks display in Padua
Observed by Italians, Sammarinese and Italian Switzerland
SignificancePublic feast; Catholic feast of the Assumption of Mary
Date 15 August
Next time15 August 2024 (2024-08-15)
FrequencyAnnual

Ferragosto is a public holiday celebrated on 15 August in all of Italy. It originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of Emperor Augustus, who made 1 August a day of rest after weeks of hard work on the agricultural sector. It became a custom for the workers to wish their employers "buon ferragosto" and receive a monetary bonus in return. This became law during the Roman Renaissance throughout the Papal States. As the festivity was created for political reasons, the Catholic Church decided to move the festivity to 15 August, which is the Assumption of Mary allowing them to include this in the festivity.

Contents

This festivity was used by Benito Mussolini to give the lower classes the possibility to visit cultural cities or go to the seaside for one to three days, from 14 August to the 16th, by creating "holiday trains" with extremely low cost tickets, for this holiday period. Food and board was not included, which is why even today Italians associate packed lunches and barbecues with this day. By metonymy, it is also the summer vacation period around mid-August, which may be a long weekend (ponte di ferragosto) or most of August. [1] Until 2010, 90% of companies, shops and industries closed; however, because closing an entire country's economy for an entire month would result in serious financial impacts and workplace backlogs, most companies now close for about two weeks and require all workers to take mandatory vacation, similar to the practice of workplaces closing between 25 December and the first of January.

History

The Feriae Augusti ("Festivals [Holidays] of the Emperor Augustus") were introduced by the emperor Augustus in 18 BCE. This was an addition to earlier ancient Roman festivals which fell in the same month, such as the Vinalia rustica or the Consualia , which celebrated the harvest and the end of a long period of intense agricultural labor. The Feriae Augusti, in addition to its propaganda function, linked the various August festivals to provide a longer period of rest, called Augustali, which was felt necessary after the hard labour of the previous weeks.

During these celebrations, horse races were organised across the Empire, and beasts of burden (including oxen, donkeys and mules), were released from their work duties and decorated with flowers. Such ancient traditions are still alive today, virtually unchanged in their form and level of participation during the Palio dell'Assunta which takes place on 16 August in Siena. Indeed, the name "Palio" comes from the pallium, a piece of precious fabric which was the usual prize given to winners of the horse races in ancient Rome. [2]

During the festival, workers greeted their masters, who in return would give them a tip. The custom became so strongly rooted that in the Renaissance it was made compulsory in the Papal States. [3]

The modern Italian name of the holiday comes directly from the Latin name. [4]

According to Richard Overy, author of A History of War in 100 Battles, the Ferragosto Holiday was introduced by C. Caesar Octavian, the future Augustus, after his victory over Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium on 2 September, 31 BCE.

Fascism in Italy

The popular tradition of taking a trip during Ferragosto arose under the fascist regime. In the second half of the 1920s, during the mid-August period, the regime organised hundreds of popular trips through the fascist leisure and recreational organisations of various corporations, and via the setting up of the "People's Trains of Ferragosto", which were available at discounted prices. [5]

The initiative gave the opportunity to less well-off social classes to visit Italian cities or to reach seaside and mountain resorts. The offer was limited to 13, 14 and 15 August, and comprised two options: the "One-Day Trip", within a radius of 50-100 km, and the "Three-Day Trip" within a radius of about 100–200 km. [6]

In religion

The Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary also falls on 15 August, and is a major feast and Holy Day of Obligation.

In the arts

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asti</span> Comune in Piedmont, Italy

Asti is a comune (municipality) of 74,348 inhabitants (1–1–2021) located in the Italian region of Piedmont, about 55 kilometres east of Turin, in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deemed to be the modern capital of Montferrat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious festival</span> Time of special importance marked by adherents of some religion

A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar. The science of religious rites and festivals is known as heortology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Italy</span>

Tourism in Italy is one of the largest economic sectors of the country. With 65 million tourists per year (2019) according to ISTAT, Italy is the fifth most visited country in international tourism arrivals. According to 2018 estimates by the Bank of Italy, the tourism sector directly generates more than five per cent of the national GDP and represents over six per cent of the employed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sextilis</span> Original sixth month in the Roman calendar

Sextilis or mensis Sextilis was the Latin name for what was originally the sixth month in the Roman calendar, when March was the first of ten months in the year. After the calendar reform that produced a twelve-month year, Sextilis became the eighth month, but retained its name. It was renamed Augustus (August) in 8 BC in honor of the first Roman emperor, Augustus. Sextilis followed Quinctilis, which was renamed Julius (July) after Julius Caesar, and preceded September, which was originally the seventh month.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman festivals</span> Scheduled celebration in ancient Rome

Festivals in ancient Rome were a very important part in Roman religious life during both the Republican and Imperial eras, and one of the primary features of the Roman calendar. Feriae were either public (publicae) or private (privatae). State holidays were celebrated by the Roman people and received public funding. Games (ludi), such as the Ludi Apollinares, were not technically feriae, but the days on which they were celebrated were dies festi, holidays in the modern sense of days off work. Although feriae were paid for by the state, ludi were often funded by wealthy individuals. Feriae privatae were holidays celebrated in honor of private individuals or by families. This article deals only with public holidays, including rites celebrated by the state priests of Rome at temples, as well as celebrations by neighborhoods, families, and friends held simultaneously throughout Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public holidays in Italy</span>

Public holidays in Italy are established by the Italian parliament and, with the exception of city or community patronal days, apply nationwide. These include a mix of national, religious and local observances. As for Whit Monday, there is an exception for South Tyrol. In Italy there are also State commemoration days, which are not public holidays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palio di Siena</span> Horse race that is held twice each year in Siena, Italy

The Palio di Siena is a horse race held twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen contrade, or city wards, in a tradition dating back to the 17th-century. The Palio held on 2 July is named Palio di Provenzano, in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano, a Marian devotion particular to Siena which developed around an icon from the Terzo Camollia area of the city. The Palio held on 16 August is named Palio dell'Assunta, in honour of the Assumption of Mary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velletri</span> Comune in Lazio, Italy

Velletri is an Italian comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, approximately 40 km to the southeast of the city centre, located in the Alban Hills, in the region of Lazio, central Italy. Neighbouring communes are Rocca di Papa, Lariano, Cisterna di Latina, Artena, Aprilia, Nemi, Genzano di Roma, and Lanuvio. Its motto is: Est mihi libertas papalis et imperialis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Augustus and Rome</span> Augusteum in Altındağ, Ankara, Turkey

The Temple of Augustus and Rome is an augusteum located in the Altındağ district of Ankara. It is thought to have been built around 25–20 AD. Besides being one of the most important Roman-period ruins in the city, it is also known for the Monumentum Ancyranum. This is an inscription about the works of Augustus, who was considered the first Roman emperor. It is the most complete copy of Res Gestae Divi Augusti that has survived to the present day, even as the original in Rome had disappeared.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mausoleum of Augustus</span> Ancient Roman tomb in Rome, Italy

The Mausoleum of Augustus is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The mausoleum is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via di Ripetta as it runs along the Tiber. The grounds cover an area equivalent to a few city blocks nestled between the church of San Carlo al Corso and the Museum of the Ara Pacis. After being closed for fourteen years to perform restoration work, the mausoleum was reopened to the public in March 2021.

<i>Ianuarius</i> First month of the revised ancient Roman calendar

Ianuarius, Januarius, or January, fully Mensis Ianuarius and abbreviated Ian., was the first month of the ancient Roman calendar, from which the Julian and Gregorian month of January derived. It was followed by Februarius ("February"). In the calendars of the Roman Republic, Ianuarius had 29 days. Two days were added when the calendar was reformed under Julius Caesar in 45 BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irsina</span> Comune in Basilicata, Italy

Irsina, until 1895 called Montepeloso, is a town, comune (municipality) and former Latin bishopric in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latium</span> Historical region of Italy

Latium is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire.

<i>Maius</i>

Maius or mensis Maius (May) was the third month of the ancient Roman calendar, following Aprilis (April) and preceding Iunius (June). On the oldest Roman calendar that had begun with March, it was the third of ten months in the year. May had 31 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solarium Augusti</span> Roman solar marker in the Campus Martius

The Solarium Augusti or Horologium Augusti was a monument in the Campus Martius of ancient Rome constructed in 10 BCE under the Roman emperor Augustus. It included an Egyptian obelisk that had first been erected under the pharaoh Psamtik II used in some fashion as a gnomon. Once believed to have been a massive sundial, it is now more commonly understood to have been used with a meridian line used to track the solar year. It served as a monument of Augustus having brought Egypt under Roman rule and was also connected with the Altar of Augustan Peace commemorating the Pax Romana established by his ending the numerous civil wars that ended the Roman Republic. The Solarium was destroyed at some point during the Middle Ages. Its recovered obelisk is now known as the Obelisk of Montecitorio.

Fascist mysticism was a current of political and religious thought in Fascist Italy, based on Fideism, a belief that faith existed without reason, and that Fascism should be based on a mythology and spiritual mysticism. A School of Fascist Mysticism was founded in Milan on April 10, 1930. Active until 1943, its main objective was the training of future Fascist leaders who were indoctrinated in the study of various Fascist intellectuals who tried to abandon the purely political to create a spiritual understanding of Fascism. Fascist mysticism in Italy developed through the work of Niccolò Giani with the decisive support of Arnaldo Mussolini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palio di Parma</span> Yearly festival in Parma, Italy

The Palio di Parma is a festival that is held once a year in the northern Italian town of Parma, and traces back to the ancient "Scarlet Run". The Palio is normally hold on the third weekend of September.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditions of Italy</span> Overview of the traditions in Italy

Traditions of Italy are sets of traditions, beliefs, values, and customs that belongs within the culture of Italian people. These traditions have influenced life in Italy for centuries, and are still practiced in modern times. Italian traditions are directly connected to Italy's ancestors, which says even more about Italian history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palio di Legnano</span> Horse race that is held each year in Legnano, Italy

The Palio di Legnano is a traditional event generally held on the last Sunday of May in the City of Legnano, Italy, to recall the Battle of Legnano held on 29 May 1176 by the Lombard League and the Holy Roman Empire of Frederick Barbarossa. This Palio is composed by a medieval pageant and a horse race. Until 2005 the whole event was named Sagra del Carroccio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contrade of Legnano</span> Historical subdivisions of Legnano, Italy

The contrade of Legnano are the eight historical subdivisions into which the city of Legnano, in Lombardy, in Italy, is divided. They participate annually in the Palio di Legnano.

References

  1. Jonathan Boardman, Rome: A Cultural and Literary Companion, p. 219
  2. Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Dissertazioni sopra le antichità italiane, Barbiellini, Roma, 1755, tomo II, pag. 32
  3. Gaetano Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, Tipografia Emiliana, Venezia, 1843, volume XXIII, pag. 155
  4. Pianigiani, Ottorino (1907). "Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana" (in Italian).
  5. Michele Ventrella, Gite fuori porta a Ferragosto, Corriere del Mezzogiorno, 14 agosto 2012
  6. Alberto De Bernardi, Una dittatura moderna: il fascismo come problema storico, Paravia, Milano, 2001