WBenedicaria, which means "Way of Blessing," is a relatively new term for a number of loosely related family-based folk traditions found throughout Italy, most notably in Southern Italy and Sicily. Though referred to by some as "Folk Magic" or even as "Witchcraft," the various Benedicaria Traditions are concerned almost exclusively with healing, cleansing, spirituality, and religious devotion.
WThe boat of Saint Peter is a popular rural tradition prevalent in northern Italy, particularly in the geographical area of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Trentino, Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont. This tradition is also widespread in certain valleys and territories of north-west Tuscany: Garfagnana and Val di Lima, Valleriana and Galciana.
WThe Corteo Storico is a historical costume parade in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It takes place before the famous horse race known as the Palio on the 2nd of July and on August 16, each year.
WFerragosto is a public holiday celebrated on 15 August in all of Italy. It originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of emperor Augustus, who made the 1st of 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 Renaissance throughout the papal states. As the festivity was created for political reasons, the Catholic Church decided to move the festivity to the 15th of August which is the Assumption of Mary allowing them to include this in the festivity. This festivity was also used by Mussolini to give the lower classes the possibility to visit cultural cities or go to the seaside for one to three days, from the 14th of August to the 16th, by creating "holiday trains" with extremely low cost tickets, for this holiday period. Food and board was not included, this 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 or most of August. Up until 2010, 90% of companies, shops and industries closed but, with the growing influence from other non-Catholic countries, and the fact that closing an entire country's industry for a whole month meant an incredible loss of money and backlog of work, most companies now close for about two weeks, forcing all workers to take imposed vacation, similarly to the 25th of December.
WThe Giostra della Quintana was a historical jousting tournament in Foligno, central Italy. It was revived as a modern festival in 1946.
WLa Festa della Venuta della Santa Casa, colloquially known as La Venuta is a traditional festival in the Marche region of Italy, also widespread in some parts of Umbria, which has been held for more than four hundred years on the night between the ninth and tenth of December, lighting large bonfires in cities, towns and the countryside.
WThe Macchina of Santa Rosa is a 30-metre-high (98 ft) tower, which is rebuilt about every 5 years, in honor of Saint Rose of Viterbo, the patron saint of the city of Viterbo, Italy. Every year on the evening of 3 September 100 men called "Facchini di Santa Rosa" hoist the Macchina - weighing about 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg) - and carry it through the very narrow streets and squares of the medieval town centre. The whole route is a little bit more than 1 km (1 mi).
WPalio is the name given in Italy to an annual athletic contest, very often of a historical character, pitting the neighbourhoods of a town or the hamlets of a comune against each other. Typically, they are fought in costume and commemorate some event or tradition of the Middle Ages and thus often involve horse racing, archery, jousting, crossbow shooting, and similar medieval sports. Once purely a matter of local rivalries, many have now become events that are staged with an eye to visitors and foreign tourists.
WThe Palio di Asti is a traditional Italian festival of medieval origin that culminates with a bareback horse race.
WThe Palio di Legnano is a folk 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.
WThe 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.
WThe "Marcia del Palio", commonly also called Squilli la fe', is an ancient hymn that accompanies the historical costume parade called Corteo Storico that precedes the Palio of Siena.
WThe Palio di Siena is a horse race that is 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. 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.
WIn Italy, a sagra is a local festival, very often involving food, and frequently a historical pageant and sporting events: when the sporting event is a historical recreation as well, such as a joust or a horse race in costume or armour, it is called a palio.
WThe Saracen joust of Arezzo is an ancient game of chivalry. It dates back to the Middle Ages.
WThe Scoppio del Carro is a folk tradition of Florence, Italy. On Easter Sunday, a cart, packed full of fireworks and other pyrotechnics, is lit and provides a historic spectacle in the civic life of the city.
WStrenna or Strenna di Natale is a gift that is usual to make or receive in Italy at Christmas time.
WThe Varia di Palmi is a Catholic festival that takes place on the last Sunday of August, in Palmi, Italy, in honor of the city's patron saint and protector, the Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of the Sacred Letter. The event is the main festival of the Calabria region.