Top 10 Easter Traditions in Italy

Top 10 Easter Traditions in Italy

How to celebrate Easter in Italy

A Publication of

Suggestive and fascinating: Easter Traditional celebrations to

experience in Italy

The Easter festivity plays a central role in Italy where it is the second most important day after Christmas. All over the peninsula, both in large cities and tiny villages, processions weave their way through narrow streets, ancient old towns and main squares until finally they arrive at the local Cathedral.

It is a traditional celebration due to the historical and cultural importance of the Catholic religion in Italy and because of the religious meaning of Easter itself: while Christmas is Jesus' birth, Easter is his passion, death and resurrection.

If you have never experienced a "passion play" on Good Friday, close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine it: a deep silence broken only by chanting choirs for a unique, sad and engaging ritual, with thousands candles all wrapped in red paper that set aside the dark and deep shades of the night.

The thousands moving rituals that take place throughout Italy from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday terminate with a special Easter lunch and with the amusing picnic of "Pasquetta". Seasonal delicacies and gastronomic delights celebrate not only the Easter Sunday, but also the bounty of Primavera. Easter also signals the arrival of Spring, and many pagan traditions that used to mark the arrival of the "beautiful season" have been incorporated into the religious festivities.

With the Mediterranean scrub in bloom and the warm weather forecast, there is no better place to be than in Italy during the long Easter weekend.

The Easter Traditional celebrations to experience in Italy are suggestive, interesting and captivate both believers or not. If you love the popular traditions, this is a Top 10 List you shouldn't have to miss.

Our selection

The Explosion of the Cart - Florence The Meeting - Oliena

The Procession of the Mysteries - Trapani The race of Virgin Mary - Sulmona Stations of the Cross - Rome

The Procession of the Addolorata - Sorrento The Five Mysteries - Molfetta The Lunissanti - Castelsardo

Food Traditions from North to South - Italy The Little Easter - Italy

The Explosion of the Cart

Florence, Tuscany

The "Scoppio del Carro," or the Explosion of the Cart, dates back over 350 years.

This Florentine tradition finds its origins in events that are partly historic and partly legendary.

An elaborate wagon built in 1622 and standing two to three stories high is pulled by a pair of oxen decorated in garlands through the streets of Florence to the square between the Baptistery and Cathedral.

On Easter Sunday the cart filled with fireworks and pyrotechnics is torched. This "new fire" symbolizes a new beginning and a new life.

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Where & When: Easter Sunday, Piazza del Duomo Florence, Tuscany

Where to sleep: The ideal accommodations to experience Easter in Florence are Platinhome Ricasoli

and Villa La Massa

The Meeting

Oliena, Sardinia

The Meet, or "S'incontru" in Sardinian language consists of two processions. The one carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary and the second carrying a statue of Jesus Christ, meet after a long walk through the village's streets.

It takes place on Easter Sunday and is a simulacrum of the Madonna searches for Christ after his resurrection.

At the end of the procession, the two statues are returned to the church for Easter Mass...

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Where & When: Easter Sunday from the San Francesco di Paola and Santa Croce Churches

Where to sleep: The ideal accommodations to experience Easter in Oliena and the nearby are the Hotel Su Gologone

and Albergo Diffuso Mannois

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