Easter Holiday in Italy

What can you experience on an Easter holiday in Italy?

Read on to find out what happens during the Easter days, so you can better plan your eventful Easter holiday.

Easter holidays in Italy

Easter festivities in Italy last five days from Thursday to the following Monday, Easter Monday, which in Italian is called "Pasquetta". When planning an Easter holiday in Italy, it is useful to know that Thursday and Friday are not considered public holidays, so shops and restaurants have normal opening hours. On Sunday and Monday, shops, banks, etc. will be closed, while most restaurants will be open.

Easter traditions in Italy

Easter in Italy is characterized by religious and popular processions, but still ends with the classic chocolate eggs, wrapped in colorful and imaginative packaging, which hide surprises for young and old!

Maundy Thursday in Italy

From Maundy Thursday, the city churches open to visitors to display their artfully decorated altars. Here you can experience beautiful floral decorations, as a sign of respect for Jesus' death and anticipation of his rebirth.

Good Friday in Italy

If you visit Florence, or other parts of Tuscany on Good Friday or Saturday, you can participate in one of the many processions that pass through the ancient districts. Via Crucis is a ritual of the Catholic Church, with which the painful path Christ walked to his crucifixion on Golgotha is recreated and celebrated. It is a great experience to participate in these processions, as the participants are often in historical costumes, and on their shoulders, they carry a statue of the Virgin Mary or Jesus.

Easter Sunday in Italy

On Easter Sunday, you will be able to see Catholic families bringing a basket of eggs – raw or already beautifully painted and wrapped in an embroidered napkin – to mass in the church. At some point during the mass, the priest will bless all the brought eggs, which the families will eat for Sunday lunch.
It's almost a competition to see who has the most beautifully decorated basket. It is usually the children's task to paint the eggs or decorate the basket.

One can also bring a branch from an olive tree, which is blessed and will bring peace in the new year. Therefore, you often see dried olive branches in Italian homes, including in our holiday homes.

Easter Sunday is a public holiday throughout Italy and is usually spent with family or friends. People meet for an excursion, picnic in nature, or other outdoor activities. This tradition has its origin in the desire to remember the disciples who went to Emmaus a few kilometers from Jerusalem. To commemorate their journey, Easter Sunday is spent on excursions and picnics outdoors.

Easter traditions in Florence - Easter Sunday

"Il Volo della Colombina" (The flying dove) and "Lo scoppio del Carro" (The explosion of the cart).

On Easter Sunday, you can experience "Lo Scoppio del Carro" in Florence. It is one of the most important Florentine traditions.
"Il Carro" means "the cart" and is a large wooden cart, on which a wooden structure is made and filled with fireworks. The beautifully decorated cart is accompanied through the city streets by a procession. Florentines are dressed in historical Renaissance costumes, there are flag-throwers, drummers, etc. The procession goes all the way to the square between the Duomo and the Baptistery, and the golden doors are opened, which only happens at Easter.
Also, the central doors to the Duomo are opened and a line is stretched, fastened to the top of "il Carro". After the procession, a mechanical dove, made from the holy stones that Pazzino dei Pazzi brought home from Jerusalem in connection with the first crusade, is ignited, and the dove flies fastened to the line. It hits "il Carro", which "explodes" with firecrackers and flags.

The ceremony begins at 10 AM on Easter Sunday.

It is quite a festive highlight during an Easter holiday in Tuscany.

Easter cleaning

Some time ago, all homes were visited by chimney sweeps at Easter. They announced themselves at the door, a price was negotiated, after which they sang and began cleaning the chimney.

From this comes the tradition of "Easter cleaning". Especially the elderly and people in the countryside make a great effort to turn the house upside down; cupboards are emptied, washed, and superfluous items are reused or thrown away. Traditionally, Easter cleaning was associated with the priest's annual blessing visit to the home. Many experienced it as a check to see if they had kept the house well enough since the last blessing.

What do you eat during an Easter holiday in Italy?

Food is a central part of Easter and despite the proverb "Natale con i tuoi -- Pasqua con chi vuoi", which can be translated to: Christmas is spent with your family -- Easter you can spend with whoever you want, Italians love to meet on Easter Sunday for a big family lunch.

Menu varies from region to region. In Tuscany, we eat the blessed eggs and chicken soup with tortellini pasta.
However, there are some Easter dishes that are common throughout Italy:

• Cappelletti in broth.
  Traditionally homemade meat broth with cappelletti pasta. Enjoyed in the evening after the big Easter lunch, as there is only room for a light dinner.
• Oven-roasted lamb.
  As in many other Christian countries, lamb is an important symbol of Easter in Italy, so different versions of lamb are the traditional main course for Easter lunch.
• Colomba -- cake.
  It is the most widespread dessert during Easter and the best gift you can bring if you are invited to Easter lunch in Italy. It is a cake shaped like a dove, covered with sugar and almonds. Can be bought in supermarkets but those from the baker are better and fresher.

Recipe for Italian leg of lamb with herbs

Here is the recipe for my mother-in-law's traditional Easter main course; slow-roasted leg of lamb with delicious Italian herbs. Your house will smell all day long and the meat will be juicy and flavorful.
For 6 people, you should probably count on a leg of lamb of about 1.5 kg, but it also tastes wonderful the next day.
Note that the cooking time is 3.5 hours per kg of meat and you need to use a lid on the oven dish.

Ingredients:
Leg of lamb, plenty of olive oil and garlic, 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, 2 red onions, 170 ml red wine, salt, pepper.

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C.
2. Make many deep holes in the meat with a sharp knife and stuff plenty of garlic and rosemary into the holes.
3. Place a pot over heat, warm a splash of good olive oil, and when hot, sear the leg of lamb well on all sides to create a crust.
4. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
5. Roughly chop the two onions and add them to the pot and let them fry for 4 – 5 minutes.
6. Place the leg of lamb in the oven dish, add the wine and a little olive oil. Place a fresh rosemary sprig on each side. Put the lid on and place in the oven and let it roast for 3.5 hours per kilo until the meat falls off when you touch it with a fork.

Serve with your traditional side dishes and a good full-bodied red wine – Italian, of course!