Festivals Diary
AGRIGENTO Almond blossom festival (March). ALBA Giostra delle Cento Torri, Palio and costume parade (1st Sun in Oct). AMALFI Sant'Andrea's day (June 27). AOSTA Fiera di Sant'Orso - thousand-year-old fair (End of Jan). AREZZO Giostra del Saracino - jousting by knights in armour (1st Sun in Sept). ASCOLI PICENO Torneo della Quintana - jousting (1st weekend in Aug). ASSISI Holy Week celebrations (Easter); Calendimaggio spring festa (1st week in May). ASTI Bareback riders from villages around take part in Palio (3rd Sun in Sept). BARI Sagra di San Nicola - pilgrims follow a boat carrying the saint's image for a ceremony out at sea, in honour of the 47 sailors who saved his bones from raiders (1st weekend in May). BRISIGHELLA Medieval festival (End of June). CAGLIARI Sagra di Sant Efisio - thousands of pilgrims accompany the saint's statue in carts, on horseback or on foot (May 1). CAMOGLI Sagra del Pesce - procession of boats, with a fish fry-up (2nd Sun in May). CAMPOBASSO Sagra dei Misteri (Beginning of June). COCULLO Festa di San Domenico Abate - procession through the village with a statue of the saint swathed in snakes (1st week in May). DIANO MARINA Festival del Mare - fireworks (Aug 15). DOLCEACQUA Festa di San Sebastiano - saint's day celebrated with a tree covered with Communion hosts carried through town (Jan 20). ENNA Celebrations for Holy Week (Easter). FAVIGNANA La Mattanza - ritual slaughter of tuna (May/June). FELTRE Medieval Palio (1st weekend in Aug). FLORENCE Scoppio del Carro - firework display in the Piazza del Duomo (Easter Sun); Festa di San Giovanni - fireworks and the Gioco di Calcio Storico, a rough-and-tumble football game played between the four quarters of the city in medieval costume (June 24 & 28). FOLIGNO Torneo della Quintana - six hundred medieval knights in jousting contest (2nd weekend in Sept). GENOA Festa di San Giovanni (June 24). GUBBIO Festa dei Ceri (May 5); Crossbow matches against San Sepolcro (Last Sun in May). LA SPEZIA Rowing contests in Palio del Golfo (Aug). LUCCA Torchlight processions as part of Luminaria di Santa Croce (Aug 14). LUNGRO Albanian celebrations (Easter). MAROSTICA Human chess game (Every even year 2nd weekend in September) MASSA MARITTIMA Crossbow competition (May 24). MILAN Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio, also known as O Bei! O Bei! (December). MONTEPULCIANO Bravio delle Botte, barrel-rolling race preceded by procession, drums and flag-throwing (Last Sun in Aug). NAPLES Festa di San Gennaro Gathering in the cathedral to witness the liquefaction of the saint's blood (1st Sun in May, Sept 19, Dec 16). NOCERA TIRINESE Flagellants' procession through the village (Easter Sat). NORCIA Crossbow matches and processions (March 20-21). NOVOLI Bonfires in honour of Sant'Antonio Abate (Jan 17). ORVIETO Corpus Christi procession (Mid-June). PIANA DEGLI ALBANESI Byzantine celebrations (Easter and Epiphany). PISA Luminaria - festival of lights (June 16-17); Gioco del Ponte, tug-of-war game over main bridge, preceded by historical procession (June 26); Historical regatta in costume (July 26 & 27). PISTOIA Giostra dell Orso - Joust of the Bear (July 25). PORTO CESAREO Luminaria - festival of lights (Aug 22). ROME Befana, toy-and-sweet fair in Piazza Navona (Jan 6 - Epiphany); Festa de'Noantri - dancing, songs and floats in Trastevere's piazzas (July 16-24). SAN MARCO IN LAMIS Fracchie - ritual of pagan origin in which bundles of burning wood are hauled through the streets (Good Friday). SAN SEPOLCRO Crossbow matches against Gubbio (2nd weekend in Sept). SIENA Palio in medieval Campo (July 2 & Aug 16). TAGGIA Festa della Maddalena with Dance of Death in main piazza (Sun nearest to July 22). VENICE Carnevale (Feb/March); Il Redentore - gondola procession, fireworks, to commemorate the end of a sixteenth-century plague (3rd week in July); Regatta (1st Sun in Sept). VENTIMIGLIA Regatta and processions (Aug 9-10). VIAREGGIO Carnevale (Feb/March). VITERBO Procession of the Macchina di Santa Rosa (Sept 3).
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