Summer Magic
Protecting yourself during your Hot Italian Summer
This year I am taking us through the seasonal celebrations, festivals and food fairs in Italy. As soon as the weather gets warm, there are so many events all over the country. When planning your trip, I hope you can include a local festival.
When I moved to Italy about 40 years ago, there was a lot to learn. Remember life before we had the Internet? Trip planning involved buying guidebooks and conducting extensive research. When you arrived, it was a good idea to visit the tourist office to pick up local information about the town you were visiting. On a budget, it also meant figuring out the bus and train schedule to move around. Trying to make phone reservations for meals or book events was an event in itself.
Everything took a little bit longer. I learned to slow down and embrace the lifestyle. Today, we have all the information at our fingertips. When I first started sharing tips on where to go and what to do on my website in 1997, tourism in Florence was just beginning to take off. Today, large cities are swamped, and everyone who is an influencer on Instagram has helped small businesses, but has also created long lines. The locals have had to leave the town centers due to the influx of Airbnb rentals.
I have lost that feeling of the Dolce Vita. The slow, sweet life here. I am not an influencer on Instagram, but I will still share where I go and what I do, which isn’t always the most trendy, but rather the places and people I love. Be gentle with yourselves while traveling.
STAY HYDRATED.
My summer pick-me-up is a supplement containing magnesium, potassium, and vitamins. I have bought Polase in the past, but this season I found a different brand. Take one package in a glass of water per day. It saves me.
The solstice is a magical time, marked by the long, hot days of summer. The solstice is on the 21st, and on the 24th is San Giovanni, St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, as well as Torino and Genova.
Midsummer is celebrated all over the world, and many include gathering flowers and herbs, fires, and parties. I will be sharing a few of my favorite traditional recipes that I make in Tuscany: an arnica-infused oil and a green walnut liquor, exclusively for my paid subscribers.
Florence celebrates with the historic soccer game, Calcio in Costume.
Don’t miss the parade, which starts in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella and proceeds through town to the Piazza Santa Croce, where the game will be played on the sand-filled square. In the evening, there are incredible fireworks from the Piazzale Michelangelo above the city. The best place to see them is to stand on the river, near the Uffizi Gallery.
The Fiorino has the image of the Giglio of Florence on one side and St John the Baptist on the other. You can buy a replica in silver or gold at many shops in Florence.
Another fantastic festival I attended a couple of years ago is the Infiorata in Spello, Umbria. The main street is blocked off, and they create carpets of artwork using flower petals and colored sawdust. Many towns throughout Italy host an infiorata festival in celebration of this holiday. I enjoy going before the actual holiday and seeing the teams working on the pieces.
The teams that work all night. You can buy tickets to attend, don’t forget to reserve parking as well. The main event is held on Corpus Christi( Corpus Domini) a religious holiday, nine weeks after Easter. Ascension Sunday was in May, Pentecost was in June, and Corpus Christi is the last of the three events.
I also adore some of the pagan-based traditions. Here, we gather local wildflowers and make Acqua di San Giovanni on the eve of June 24th. The flowers are gathered in the evening and left overnight to infuse a bowl of water. The water is made by collecting herbs and flowers with the dew still on them, on the evening of the 23rd t It is said that the dew is from the God’s.
Here is the list of what you can put in the water:
Scotch broom, rose petals, clover, mint, St John’s wort, lavender, camomile, thyme, rosemary, sage, basil, malva, walnut leaves, wild fennel, and wormwood.
You leave this overnight and then wash yourself in the water.
It brings good luck and wards off the evil eye! One never knows, so why not?
In the kitchen, we make Nocino, a green walnut liquor.
