Italian festivals

Last updated April 10, 2019

Italy is a country well known for its festivals and many tourists attend festivals in order to experience the Italian culture and traditions.^[1] It has been claimed that there are fewer days in the calendar year than there are festivals.^{[ citation needed ]} Different categories of Italian festivals include: Italian food, cultures, traditions, wine, art, religion, music and sports.^[2]

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km² (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.

A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. Next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural. Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the northern hemisphere and Easter in the southern.

Festivals

Article Title	Festival Name	Festival Type(s)	Description
Calcio Storico (also known as Calcio Fiorentino)	Calcio Storico	Sport - Football, Sport - Bizarre, Bizarre	Steeped in almost 500 years of tradition and described loosely as a mix between football and rugby - with a good dose of bare-knuckle boxing added to the mix - Calcio Storico is not a game for those who flinch at the sight of blood.
Orange Battle at Carnevale di Ivrea (Battle of the Oranges)	Carnevale di Ivrea	Bizarre, Carnival, Party.	Unlike La Tomatina, the ammunition at Italy's Carnevale di Ivrea's orange battle doesn't get squished before it is hurled in the streets. It may, however, become smushed after colliding with the helmets that keep faces from leaking their own natural juices.
Umbria Jazz Festival	Umbria Jazz Festival	Music - Jazz	The Algiers Brass Band from New Orleans is marching down Corso Vannucci, the main street of Perugia in Italy, led by a grand marshal with purple feathers
Palio di Siena	Palio di Siena	Horse race	A horse race that is held twice each year on the 2nd July and the 16th August, in Siena, Italy.

Sport - Water, Traditional, Historical

In the Afternoon on June 17, the eve of feast day of Rainerius who is the patron saint of Pisa, the buildings along the Arno River are transformed into a fantastical fairyland setting.

Saint Rainerius is the patron saint of Pisa and of travellers. His feast day is June 17. His name may also be spelled Raynerius, Rainerius, Rainier, Raineri, Rainieri, Ranieri, Raniero, or Regnier.

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city of over 91,104 residents contains more than 20 other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and various bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

Article Title: Game of the Bridge

Festival Name:^[3]

Bizarre, Re-enactments, Historical

Rival teams from different quarters of Pisa fought for symbolic possession of a bridge over the Arno River. In those times, the games often degenerated into brutal and bloody man to man fighting.

Article Title: Battle of the Oranges

Festival of San Giovanni

The Festival of San Giovanni with its spectacular fireworks, music show and solemn procession to the Comacina Island by boat is the most famous and unmissable event of Lake Como. In this area of the lake, the shores form a sort of an inlet, right in the center of which lays the Comacina Island, the only island of the lake. The village of Ossuccio spreads right in front of it, from along the shores up on the slopes of the surrounding mountains. This is how the Comacina Island becomes the stage where the fireworks display will take place, the waters surrounding it will be the parterre and the slopes of the mountains will become the bleachers from where to admire the show. Hundreds of boats and many steamers will position themselves in the forefront, in the bay right between the island and the village, illuminating the stage of this natural theatre.

It is not only the square, the lakefront and the sports field that comes to life, for the one day the whole hamlet of Ossuccio and all of its surrounding villages are literally stormed by the thousands of people willing to take part to one of the most famous summer events on the lake. For the one day, the wholes village itself is transformed, as well as all its inhabitants. What is usually a peaceful and quiet place comes to life. It is very unlikely to be able to find a corner, an alley, a shore or a courtyard that is not given life to. there is great ferment, hundreds of people wander around the main road, the streets of the village are filled with stalls and markets, bars and restaurants are ready for the sold out, merry-go-rounds, street food, and benches fill up the park in the center of the village. The air is full of expectation, excitement, energy and you can most certainly feel it all. As soon as the sun starts going down, as ritual, the inhabitants light up hundreds of candles to illuminate balconies, terraces, windowsills, shores and courtyards. A beautiful spectacular effect, especially if you can see it from the lake. Therefore, everybody prepares and joyfully waits for the night to come and or the fireworks to begin.

The fireworks are undoubtedly the most longed for moment of the whole festival. What takes place here is a proper show, with its stage, its story and its amazing conclusion. The actual shape of the village itself makes this a unique experience. Can you picture an amphitheater? In this area of the lake, the shores form a sort of an inlet, right in the center of which lays the Comacina island, the only island of the lake. the hamlet of Ossuccio spreads right in front of it, from along the shores up on the slope of the surrounding mountains. This is how the Comacina Island becomes the stage where the fireworks display will take place, the waters surrounding it will be the parterre and the slopes of the mountains will become the bleachers from where to admire the show. Hundreds of boats and many steamers will position themselves in the forefront, in the bay right between the island and the village, illuminating the stage of this natural theatre. The surrounding mountains act as sounding boards and the bangs echo as never before, involving and stunning the whole public.

The fireworks tell a story of Comacina Island, of the Emperor Frederick Redbeard and of the wars that razed this strip of land to the ground. A narrator will tell a story whole the fireworks will follow one another to the strains of engaging music. The whole island will glow in a red light, to recall the fire that destroyed it. While people enjoy themselves in the battle-themed festival and fireworks, people also pass around plates of an infamous Italian snack called pizza bombs (bombe da pizza), which has mozzarella cheese and pepperoni in it. Mixed with the melted mozzarella cheese, the dish symbolizes the bombs which exploded, not with actual gunpowder but with cheese. People enjoy the requisite fireworks display which people gather and settle down and enjoy a simple picnic while the fireworks go off in the night sky.

Date: 24 June to 25 June
Place: Ossuccio e Isola Comacina

Carnival, Bizarre, Party

That fight for liberty is recreated with the Battles of the Oranges, which substitute stones. Italy exceeds its production quota of oranges as agreed within the EEC (the European Economic Community), so the excess needs to be destroyed (just to keep up the retail price). My co-citizens cooperate in the difficult path towards a unified Europe by helping to smash some oranges.

The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation which aimed to bring about economic integration among its member states. It was created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957. Upon the formation of the European Union (EU) in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed as the European Community (EC). In 2009 the EC's institutions were absorbed into the EU's wider framework and the community ceased to exist.

Article Title: Sagra di'Pinolo - The Pine Nut Festival

Festival Name: Sagra di'Pinolo - The Pine Nut Festival

Liam

The place was Chiesanuova, the time was mid-June, and the celebration was the Sagra di'Pinolo—the Pine Nut festival.

Chiesanuova is a minor municipality of San Marino. It has a population of 1,143 inhabitants in an area of 5.46 km².

References

↑ Bakerjian, Martha. "Festivals in Italy". http://goitaly.about.com/od/festivalsandevents/tp/top-festivals.htm . Retrieved 13 August 2014.External link in |website= (help)
↑ "Top Travel Service". http://www.toptravelservice.com.au/blog/top-10-festivals-in-italy/ . Retrieved 13 August 2014.External link in |website= (help)
↑ "The Game of the Bridge - Il Gioco del Ponte - PISA - ITALIA - Pisa events". www.pisaonline.it.

External links

"Top 10 festivals in Italy"

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[1] Bakerjian, Martha. "Festivals in Italy". http://goitaly.about.com/od/festivalsandevents/tp/top-festivals.htm . Retrieved 13 August 2014.External link in |website= (help)

[2] "Top Travel Service". http://www.toptravelservice.com.au/blog/top-10-festivals-in-italy/ . Retrieved 13 August 2014.External link in |website= (help)

[3] "The Game of the Bridge - Il Gioco del Ponte - PISA - ITALIA - Pisa events". www.pisaonline.it.