After Christmas, Easter in Italy, also known as Pasqua (in Italian), is the second most important Italian holiday.
This holiday includes a long weekend in Italy, as well as the Italian observance of Pasquetta (Little Easter, also known as Easter Monday), which you are free to celebrate as you like according to your travel plans and budget.
Visitors touring Italy with their family may be surprised to learn that each city has its own noteworthy traditions, and even if you don’t have friends or family to celebrate with, there are various ways to enjoy interesting Italian Easter traditions.
In Italy, Easter Sunday is a major occasion, but Easter isn’t the only occasion and there are a lot of events that happen before the actual Easter Sunday.
Palm Sunday kicks off Holy Week which includes various types of religious services and processions that continue throughout the week up till Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Some well-known events during the Holy Week include the Good Friday processions:
Apart from these, you can also take part in various Italian cultures and customs at Easter which are as follows:
Every Italian holiday has its own distinct cuisine. For children, Easter in Italy 2022 will be especially thrilling because they receive over-sized chocolate eggs with a surprise within.
In many Italian households’ little children wait in suspense as their elder siblings break an enormous chocolate egg decorated with beautiful sugar designs.
Another favourite thing that Italians (especially children) like to do is to take a stroll through the city’s streets and gaze at the store windows decorated with chocolate eggs of all sizes, shapes, and colours.
Many children like the process of painting a hard-cooked egg. Some kids paint the eggs themselves, while others colour them in simple, monochrome ways by immersing different spices, veggies, or fruits in boiling water.
Following the return of a Florentine knight, Pazzino di Ranieri de’ Pazzi, who raised the Holy Cross banner in Jerusalem during the Crusades, this tradition began in 1096. He received flint fragments from the Holy Sepulcher of Christ as a reward for his bravery. These stones were used to light the Easter Vigil sacred fire upon his return to Florence and then carried across the streets of Florence.
Nowadays, Florentines celebrate the incident with a Sunday procession in which a 30-foot antique cart is drawn by a team of white oxen along with a parade of 150 soldiers, musicians, and other individuals dressed in 15th-century costumes.
The city of Rome hosts the Vatican state, and it becomes a hotspot for Catholic pilgrims at this time of year. Most of the museums, fortunately for Roman visitors, will remain open with the exception of the Sistine Chapel.
On Good Friday, a large crowd gathers in Saint Peter’s Basilica to hear the Pope’s liturgy at 5 p.m., and immediately afterwards, the Pope begins his illuminated procession to commemorate Christ’s Via Crucis, which begins at the Palatine Hill.
The holy pontiff arrives at the Colosseum after making 14 stops along the way to reflect and pray about Christ’s journey.
Even for those who do not consider themselves religious, the beauty of this procession resides in the assembling of many visitors with torches to follow the procession.
The Casatiello from Naples, a salty cake incorporating cheese, sausage, salami, and even hard-boiled eggs, is Southern Italy’s Easter favourite.
The Colomba, a dove-shaped bread prepared with almonds, sugar, and egg whites, is the most famous treat in Lombardy. This cake is nowadays recognised all over the world, yet it originated in the Milan region.
Trieste’s Pinza Pasquale, a sweet bread with a three-point cross cut on top, is a traditional food made in the northern part of Italy during Easter.
Catania, Sicily, features a unique Easter cookie called aceddu cu’ l’ova. These cookies are simple and come in a variety of shapes (the most famous of which is a dove), and they are presented to family and friends as a token of affection and good luck once they are baked.
Apart from these 4 Italian traditions Easter, you can also take part in Easter Monday.
In Italy, the celebrations do not finish on Easter Sunday. The next day is also a national holiday, known as Pasquetta, which translates to “small Easter,” but is more commonly referred to as “Easter Monday.”
Easter Monday is a day when Italians, particularly those of the younger age who do not have children, get together with their friends.
Pasquetta is a fantastic excuse to prepare for a picnic and head into the countryside with your friends for a memorable Holiday in Italy provided the weather is nice. However, not everyone leaves town on Easter Monday, as some cities have special activities or performances.
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