Italian Steps - Special occasions - Cultural notes

Fact File

• Every city or town routinely honours its patron saint with a parade through the streets, and holds festivals to commemorate miracles and historical facts. Some of the most notable include the Gioco del Calcio, a traditional medieval football match that takes place in Florence every June, and the Venice gondola procession in the middle of July.



• One of the main occasions for individual celebration in the year is l'onomastico, saint's day, which Italians mark as well as their birth date. Children are often named after the saint on whose feast day they were born, or after the patron saint of the town they live in, and mark this feast day with cake, wine and small gifts.



• Other major family gatherings include il matrimonio, wedding, traditionally opulent parties characterised by feasts and rituals. A typical wedding can last all day, with meals sometimes consisting of seven or eight courses. At the end of the festivities, the couple shatters a glass or vase, the number of pieces representing the number of years of happy marriage that lay ahead.



• Christmas is a huge focus of attention in Italy, combining pagan rites and a strong spiritual context. Traditions vary from region to region. For example many Italians believe that gifts are bought not by Babbo Natale, Father Christmas, but by Gesu' Bambino, the Baby Jesus, or by la Befana, the Good Witch. It's thought she followed the Wise Men but got lost and has been wandering ever since, handing out presents to children.



• Food plays a central part in a true Italian Christmas. Traditional meals eaten at Christmas and New Year include lo zampone, a pig's foot filled with spiced minced meat, and il cotechino, a sausage made from pig's intestines containing a similar filling. The Christmas meal will be rounded off with Italy's traditional Christmas pudding, panettone. This sweet bread made from leftover dried fruit and butter allegedly gets its name from the humble dishwasher called Toni who invented it - pan di Toni, Toni's bread, panettone.



• Easter in Italy is a mix of the sombre processions and vibrant street parties, which vary in pace and flavour from region to region. In Sicily, for example, Good Friday is celebrated with a solemn procession of silent friars through the streets. At the more vibrant end of the scale are the carnevali, carnivals, pre-Lent blowouts mixing pagan ritual with religious symbolism. One of the most famous carnivals occurs every year in Venice, when people party in the streets wearing colourful masks and costumes.



• April Fool! Il pesce d'Aprile, literally April Fish, is a high profile prank-pulling day in Italy that everyone joins in. The best tricks get reported in the media, and rumour has it that there's even a recipe for ravioli al pesce d'aprile, April Fool's ravioli (though, of course, this could be a joke...!)



• All Saint's Day, La Festa d'Ognissanti, falls on November 1st. This is the day when all saints are remembered. Italians mark this day by visiting the graves of loved ones and attending church services.