Things to Do in Italy - Travel Guide & Information

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Festivals and Events

From its famous opera house to its magnificent art treasures, to lively festivals, historic pageants and religious rituals, Italy has an event for everyone’s inclination.

Festivals

Religious and traditional festivals

Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Sunday) has processions in many towns and villages where models of Christ are paraded through the town, accompanied by white-robed, hooded figures singing penitential hymns.

The presepi (nativity scene) is in every church during the Christmas holidays. In Rome a toy-and-sweet fair dedicated to the good witch Befana (equivalent to the American Santa Claus,) is held at Epiphany (January 6).  The feast lasts until dawn around the fountains of Piazza Navona. On the same day, a procession of the Re Magi (Three Kings) passes through Milano, and hundreds of costumed figures re-enact the arrival of the Re Magi at Rivisondoli in Abruzzo.

The famous Festa di San Gennaro in Napoli, held three times during the year, is fraught with superstition.  Each year on September 3 in Viterbo in Lazio a ninety-foot tall Macchina di Santa Rosa, illuminated with tiny oil lamps is paraded through the town, carrying on a tradition of over 700 years.

Besides the many religious celebrations there are others like the Corsa dei Ceri (Race of the Candles) in Gubbio marked by a race to the Church of San Ubaldo.  This event has been celebrated for centuries on May 15.

Pilgrimages

Sardeni's biggest festival, the Festa di San'Efisio, is a four-day march from Cágliari to Pula and back, to commemorate the sain's martyrdom.

Historical Festivals

There are festivals that commemorate local tradition like the medieval Palio horse race held at the Piazza del Campo in Siena. The horse race is between the districts of the city, and the winner wins a silk cloth with the figure of the Madonna and the honor of having won the race, until the following Palio.  Still other towns put on crossbow, jousting, and flag-twirling contests, and have marching bands in full medieval costume traverse the town streets.

Food Festivals

Fountains spill over with wine in Tivoli on the second Sunday in October and in Città della Pieve in Umbria in April, during the Festa delle Fontane, and at nearby Panicale.  Orvieto celebrates with a wine festival each June, and gastronomes pay tribute to the truffle as this world-famous food comes to harvest.

Arts Festivals

Perhaps the most prestigious is the Venice film festival in August and September with Spolet's summer Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) almost equally as esteemed.  This two-month long event of classical concerts, films, ballet, street theatre, and performance art, set in a venue of open spaces in this ancient, walled town.  It is the biggest arts festival in the country.

To hear music, the Sferisterio in Macerata in Marche and the Taormina amphitheater are two equally dramatic places to hear music during the summer months, as is the opera in the Arena di Verona, the ancient roman amphitheater in Verona.  The Panatenee Pompeiane music festival is held in the ruins of Pompeii during the last week of August, and for a truly unique experience, Bologn's summer festival features live bands playing in its medieval palace courtyards with screenings of soap opera or art movies in unexpected places.

Some festivals commemorate a famous composer.  Puccin's music is celebrated from the end of July to mid-August in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio, Rossin's in Pésaro from mid-August to September.

The famed Italian opera season, which begins in December and runs through May or June, is performed at the La Scala opera house in Milan, the Teatro del'Opera in Rome, La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Comunale in Firenze, and the Teatro San Carlo in Napoli.  Opera performances are also held in smaller venues during the season.

Sports and Activities

Football

Bicycling

Formula 1

Motor racing, held at the Monza autodrome near Milan (Lombardy), is where the Italian Grand Prix takes place. Italy also hosts the Grand Prix of San Marino, held not far from Maranello, home of the legendary Ferrari.

Walking and Hiking in Italy

The Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast offers sea views and some arduous walks at high levels. The Alps and Dolomites in the north have marked hiking trails and ski resorts where rooms can be booked.  The Apennines, the spine of Italy, runs for hundreds of miles, with a variety of landscapes and many picturesque towns and villages.  National parks like the Abruzzo, home to bears and wolves, offer an overnight visit at high-altitude rifugi (lodges).

Skiing in Italy

Spa Resorts

Other Sports and Activities

Water sports of every kind are possible in Italy from fishing and mountain river rafting, to windsurfing, sailing and diving.  First-class golf courses are available throughout Italy, and for people who like to climb; there are the unique Dolomite peaks to the cliffs on the turquoise sea where climbers of every level can enjoy this activity in a safety-equipped environment.

Cultural courses

There are literally hundreds of Italian language and art courses available throughout Italy, often integrated with other activities such as cooking and architecture.  Institutions like the Palazzo Spinelli and Università Internazionale dell’Arte in Florence, the Accademia Italia in Rome, the Centro Internazionale degli Studi per l’Insegnamento del Mosaico in Ravenna for mosaic making and the Accademia Chigiana for music in Siena offer a variety of courses.  Additionally, owners of charming, old world properties in the most breathtaking places offer courses and workshops.

Handicrafts and Shopping

Outdoor markets are lively, eclectic and challenging.  Almost all of them offer a collection of items that range from worthless knickknacks to priceless works of art.  Visitors are welcome and encouraged to bargain in English, Italian.

Fine leathers can be found in Florence, Rome and Milan, silks in Como, truffles in Spoleto and Rome.  And in and around every city and tiny village -- antiques, clothing, woodcarvings, embroidery and lace, silver and gold jewelry, ceramics, marble and alabaster, glass, food products, wines.  In Vatican City, Vatican postage stamps and religious products can be purchased.

Italy is known for its designer fashions, but besides the expensive boutiques, beautiful clothing can be found in small, local shops and at the town market usually held once a week.  Factory outlets featuring clothing of popular Italian designers are also a viable option to expensive boutiques.  Custom-made suits can be a good buy, and shoes made of Italy’s fine leathers are an enviable item to bring home.

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