Ferragosto - Lago di Garda

It’s the middle of August, and across Italy the temperatures are going up and up. Whether you measure your degrees in Celsius or Fahrenheit, throughout Italy August is a sticky time of year in almost every city and region. Visiting Italy in August, you might notice that the streets of many of the big cities are surprisingly empty. Where have all the people gone? Now is the time of the annual vacanze estive, or summer vacations, which traditionally takes place during the month of August. For many Italians it is a chance to escape the smoldering city temperatures by heading to the nearest beach or by returning to their ancestral villages, often in southern Italy. During the hot August month, these small seaside towns and picturesque mountain villages of the rural south come to life with Italians returning home to spend holiday time with family. For these Italians born in southern Italy who have since emigrated to northern Italy and other locations throughout Europe in search of work, August is an important time to return their villages of birth in the Molise, Abruzzo and other regions in southern Italy to reconnect with their family.

August is also the month of Ferragosto, which is celebrated nationwide on the 15th. While many visitors to Italy are not familiar with this holiday, it is one of the most important during the year after Christmas, Easter and New Years. A significant religious holiday, August 15th is the day when Roman Catholics celebrate the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. This holiday is known in Italian as La Festa dell’Assunta or L’Assunzione della Madonna. Long before it was an important Roman Catholic holiday, August 15th was a day set aside for celebrating the gods and the end of summer harvests. In ancient times, the Romans feasted and honored the gods and goddesses on this date in a festival called in Latin Feriae Augusti (Festivals of Augustus), established by the Emperor Augustus. The name Ferragosto used today is actually derived from this original Latin name for the holiday. In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of the Virgin as official church dogma, and selected the date of August 15th on the liturgical calendar. As it is a bank holiday as well, you will find businesses closed as everyone goes out to celebrate with festivals, processions and elaborate firework displays.

While a day of great significance for Roman Catholics, in practice August 15th is a holiday for relaxing and enjoying the good weather in the company of family and friends – ideally heading to the beach or mountaintop. This is especially the case in many of southern Italy’s regions where you are often not far from a beautiful beach. The region of Campania, for instance, boasts the breathtakingly beautiful Sorrento Peninsula and Amalfi Coast, the islands of Capri and Ischia, and the lesser known but no less captivating Cilento coast, where enchanting villages such as Camerota, Palinuro, Pisciotta and Ascea are bustling with activity during the hot Italian summer. The same is true across every region in Southern Italy—from Abruzzo and Molise to Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria—where Italians return home to spend time with family and enjoy the beautiful coastlines and hilltop homes.

Wherever this finds you today, I hope you can spend this Ferragosto Italian-style by uniting with family and friends and enjoying the fine summer weather. Buon Ferragosto!