Holidays & Festivals

Italy:

Carnevale: January 17 to Ash Wednesday

Carnevale always begins on January 17 and continues until Ash Wednesday. The ceremonies of the last three days of the carnival are the gayest, especially those of Martedi Grasso, or Shrove Tuesday. Throughout Italy the occasion is celebrated with colorful pageants, masquerades, dancing, music and all kinds of merrymaking.

La Vigilia Dell’Epifania (Epiphany Eve): January 5

Children receive gifts at Epiphany, in memory of the presents the Wise Men offered the Christ Child; but, unlike the tradition in Spain and some other countries, it is not the Magi who bring the gifts, but la Befana, the little old fairy witch woman. The name befana is probably a popular corruption of Epifania, or Epiphany, the feast that commemorates the visit of the Three Kings to Bethlehem’s manger.

Capo D’Anno (New Year’s Day): January 1

New Year’s Day is celebrated with church services, parties, visits and all kinds of festivities. Children receive strenna, or monetary gifts, from their parents, while friends and relatives send each other flowers and bunches of mistletoe. Since early times, Italians have attributed to mistletoe such miraculous properties as healing sickness, curing sterility in women and animals, and quenching fire. Today a piece of mistletoe is hung over the door to “bring luck” to the entire household.

Sorrento:

Festivals:
Sorrento Summer of Music: July to September

The “Sorrento Summer of Music” Festival takes place every year in the cloisters of the monastery of Saint Francis in Sorrento, and its honorary President is the famous cellist Uto Ughi. Against the attractive backdrop of the Saint Francis cloisters, great names from the international music scene perform alongside emerging talent throughout the summer. There is plenty of classical music and chamber music, but there is also jazz and other genres.

Incontri Internazionali del Cinema di Sorrento: December

Sorrento’s International Film Festival first began in 1963, and every year awards are presented to the best of Italian and foreign features and shorts.

Rome:

Festivals:
Rome is, together with Milan, the city where most cultural events such as exhibitions, concerts and shows take place in Italy. Whether it’s the Roma Jazz Festival or the Donna Sotto le Stelle, the annual Roman appointment with high fashion, where creations by the most famous fashion designers are modeled on a catwalk in a truly magnificent setting: on the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna, you are likely to indulge in a local Roman event.

All Saints Day: November is the heart of the white truffle season and you’ll find truffle fairs and chestnut festivals, as well as a big festival of music, theater and dance.

Greece:
Holidays:
January 1 – New Year’s Day
January 6 – Epiphany
Mid-March – Lent Monday
March 25 – Independence Day
Late April – Holy and Great Friday, Easter Monday
May 1 – May Day/Labor Day
August 15 – Assumption Day
October 28 – Ohi Day
December 25 – Christmas Day
December 26 – Gathering of the Virgin’s Entourage

Festivals:
January 8 – Gynaikratia in Northern Greece
February – Carnival
June-September – Athens Summer Festival in Alexandropoulos
October-May – Winter Cultural Season, Athens