In most parts of Italy, November tends to be misty, cold, and gloomy—all of this comes with its charm, but it can be disheartening. Fortunately, to keep up spirits, the November calendar is sprinkled with celebrations, holidays, and festive occasions.
November 1st, Tutti i Santi (All Saints’ Day) & November 2nd, Commemorazione dei Defunti (All Souls’ Day)
While it does not formally qualify as a November celebration, Halloween —in fact—kicks off November celebrations! Although recent in its current guise (read: parties, costumes, trick-or-treats, and all its paraphernalia), Halloween has made it to the “Italians’ favourite celebrations” list and seems there to stay.
November 1st is, on the other hand, a formal public holiday to celebrate Tutti i Santi (All Saints); in practice, it is “used” to celebrate November 2nd (Commemorazione dei Defunti, usually referred to as Giorno dei Morti), which is not a public holiday but it’s a very heart-felt day in which people go to the cemetery to honour and remember their deceased beloved ones and leave crisantemi (chrysanthemums) on their graves.
When November 1st falls on a Thursday or on a Tuesday, it can be the occasion to fare il ponte (meaning, to take an extra day off) and go for a short vacation. That is true, in fact, for all Italian public holidays: schools also have some degree of autonomy in their calendars and can therefore fare il ponte close to selected holidays.
November 21: Festa della Madonna della Salute
Less known and less participated, given its nature of local celebration, the Festa della Madonna della Salute is nevertheless a relevant and certainly spectacular festivity. Celebrated on November 21st in Venice, the Feast of Our Lady of Health commemorates the city’s deliverance from the destructive 1630-31 plague. Shortly after those years, as a sign of gratitude, the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute was commissioned, and today many Venetians still cross the Grand Canal through the Ponte Votivo, a temporary bridge (put there for the occasion, usually from November 18 to November 22) to make a pilgrimage to the church and light their candles. Don’t expect crowds of tourists to disappear, but this is certainly a very heartfelt day for the locals, and a chance to witness a lesser-known side of the city.
November 30th: Christmas Markets Begin
The Christmas Markets season has no fixed dates, but most markets start at the end of November and usually end on January 6th (l’Epifania, which —as the old saying goes— tutte le feste porta via [brings away all the holidays). The Mercatini di Natale tradition has been blooming in recent years. It all started in Bolzano, Merano, and Trento, whose ties with the German Austrian traditions and cultures are tight, due to geographic and historical reasons. Now, markets are basically everywhere in Italy. The ones in Trentino Alto-Adige, however, are still the most magnificent, if not authentic, for the reasons above (the markets themselves originate from Austria and Germany).
A Few Other Days To Be Marked on Your Calendar
November 2nd is also the day on which Trieste returned to be part of Italy. That happened in 1954 and put an end to all the disputes following WWII, at least the formal disputes, being the history of Trieste a very complicated one.
November 4th is Giorno dell’Unità Nazionale e delle Forze Armate (National Unity and Armed Forces Day). Not a formal holiday, the day remembers the end of WWI and, in general, honors those who have fallen in wars.
November 11th is San Martino (St. Martin’s Day), the end of agricultural work for the year. Traditions for San Martino, also known as Capodanno Contadino (Farmers’ New Year’s Day), include vino nuovo (new wine) tasting and roasting chestnuts, and have thousands of local additions, from eating an oca (goose) in Veneto and Lombardia to pittule (fried dough balls filled with dried tomatoes, capers, and anchovies) in Salento (Puglia).
And you’ve seen, there are plenty of occasions to forget the mist and the grey or, even better, to make the most out of them. Buon novembre a tutt*!
By Claudia Quesito
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