Destination: Italy
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Our Favourite Festivals & Events
Italians love to celebrate, and they do it in many different ways. From the baroque splendour of Venice’s resuscitated Carnevale to Siena’s heart-stopping equestrian folly, Il Palio, the gamut is enormous. Here is our top 10.
Carnevale – February; Venice
Sa Sartiglia – February; Oristano in Sardinia
Corsa dei Ceri (Candles Race) – May; Gubbio in Umbria
Processione dei Serpari (Snake-Charmers Procession) – May; Cocullo in Abruzzo
Palio delle Quattro Antiche Repubbliche Marinare (Regatta of the Four Ancient Maritime Republics) – May/June; rotates each year between Venice, Pisa, Amalfi and Genoa
Umbria Jazz – July; Perugia in Umbria
Il Palio (The Banner) – July and August; Siena in Tuscany
I Candelieri (The Candlesticks) – August Sassari in Sardinia
Regata Storica (Historic Regatta) – September; Venice
Festa di San Gennaro – 16 December, also takes place on the first Sunday in May and 19 September; Naples in Campania
Must-See Italian Movies
Before you start your real trip, why not embark on a celluloid adventure through Italy with some of the following classics, new and old?
Il Postino (1994) Director: Michael Radford
La Dolce Vita (1960) Director: Federico Fellini
Il Gattopardo (1963) Director: Luchino Visconti
Ladri di Biciclette (1948) Director: Vittorio de Sica
La Vita è Bella (1997) Director: Roberto Benigni
Roma Città Aperta (1945) Director: Roberto Rossellini
A Room with a View (1986) Director: James Ivory
Death in Venice (1971) Director: Luchino Visconti
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988) Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Buongiorno, Notte (2004) Director: Marco Bellocchio
Top Reads
Before the advent of what the French call the ‘seventh art’ (cinema), writers conveyed the sights, feelings and sensibilities of Italians and their world in print. The following are just the tip of the literary iceberg.
Cristo se è Fermato a Eboli (Christ Stopped at Eboli; 1947) Carlo Levi
Il Gattopardo (The Leopard; 1958) Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed; 1827) Alessandro Manzoni
Der Tod in Venedig (Death in Venice; 1930) Thomas Mann
Il Nome della Rosa (The Name of the Rose; 1980) Umberto Eco
Il Giorno della Civetta (The Day of the Owl; 1961) Leonardo Sciascia
La Romana (The Woman of Rome; 1947) Alberto Moravia
La Storia (History; 1974) Elsa Morante
Canne al Vento (Reeds in the Wind; 1913) Grazia Deledda
Il Re di Girgenti (The King of Girgenti; 2001) by Andrea Camilleri
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