Buon Ferragosto
The beginning of the end of summer.Eyes on September.
August 15th is a huge holiday in Italy.It’s the “Assumption” of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. My 14 years of Catholic school have come in handy living in Italy!
When I first moved to Italy, it pretty much all closed down in August. Italians have 5 weeks of paid vacation, they take 4 in summer and one in winter.My husband told me that really started based on the Fiat factory closing down all of August and it affected everyone else as well.
Small family businesses still close, perhaps not for a month anymore. Things are changing and larger companies are opening around Italy and hire so many people they can stay open on these holidays as well.
The sign above is from my local grocery store. Politics affect everything here. This is a leftwing grocery store “Communist”, if you will. The “right wing” grocery stores are open.
This year it created a three day weekend. For many, August 15 marks the coming home from the holiday or the taking off for the holiday, rather than the entire month as before.
Right now I hear the echos across the valley of people partying. So many have a rental home out in the countryside to come and eat with their friends outside the city. Pure joy!
There is a saying:
A tavola non si invecchia…
… at the table, one doesn’t age.
Long, luxurious lunches are one of the really lovely parts of the “dolce vita”. You don’t need to go out to a restaurant, often the best meals are simply at a friend’s place for a never-ending meal, where lunch melds into dinner. It doesn’t matter what you eat or how many people show up.
When, like this year, it creates a three-day weekend, even better.
Buon Ferragosto!
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To me, Ferragosto is the beginning of the end of summer and time to prepare for the Fall harvest celebrations and my tours which are all full! Tuscany, Rome, Puglia and Sicily. I will be putting my next years programs up soon.