FEBRUARY—APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Hysterical celebrations Click here during which one million Catanians and tourists follow a silver reliquary bust of the saint covered in marvellous jewels.
The Festival of the Almond Blossoms; a folk festival Click here in Agrigento with open-air drama and music performances.
During the period before Ash Wednesday, many towns stage carnivals and enjoy their last opportunity to indulge before Lent. The carnival held in Venice is the most famous.
The highlight of carnival celebrations Click here at Oristano. It involves a medieval tournament of horsemen in masquerade.
Notable processions take place in Taranto (Puglia;), Chieti (Abruzzo;), Sorrento and Trapani (Sicily;) during Holy Week. On Good Friday, the pope leads a candlelit procession to the Colosseum and on Easter Sunday he gives his blessing.
A cartful of fireworks is exploded in Piazza del Duomo in Florence — a tradition dating to the crusades.
An effigy of Sardinia’s patron saint is paraded around Cagliari on a bullock-drawn carriage amid a colourful procession Click here.
A procession in Bari follows a statue of the saint for a ceremony out at sea.
Held at Cocullo, a statue of St Dominic is draped with live snakes and carried in the Snake-Charmers’ Procession.
The faithful gather in Naples’ cathedral to wait for the blood of San Gennaro to liquefy Click here.
Three teams, each carrying a cero (massive wooden pillar, bearing the statue of a rival saint) race through Gubbio’s streets in commemoration of Sant’Ubaldo, the city’s patron saint Click here.
Hundreds of Sardinians wearing colourful traditional costume gather at Sassari to mark a victory over the Saracens in the year 1000.
The Crossbow Contest is held in Gubbio. The men of Gubbio and neighbouring Sansepolcro dress in medieval costume and use antique weapons.
Ciclo di Rappresentazioni Classiche, a Greek classical-theatre festival, brings the stones of Syracuse’s ancient 5th-century-BC amphitheatreback to life.
To celebrate Corpus Domini, some towns (including Bolsena and Genzano near Rome, Spello in Umbria and Noto in Sicily, Click here) decorate a street with colourful designs made with flower petals.
Celebrated with the lively Calcio Storico, a series of medieval football-style matches played on Florence’s Piazza di Santa Croce.
Two groups in medieval costume contend for the Ponte di Mezzo in Pisa in the Bridge Game.
The Festival of the Two Worlds is an international arts event held in Spoleto, featuring music, theatre, dance and art.
The Regatta of the Four Ancient Maritime Republics is a procession and boat race between four maritime rivals: Pisa, Venice, Amalfi and Genoa. It rotates between the towns: Pisa in 2010, Venice in 2011, Genoa 2012 and Amalfi 2013. It’s usually held in June but can be delayed as late as September.
A chaotic bareback horse race Click here around the piazza in Siena, preceded by a parade in traditional costume.
More dangerous than Il Palio, this rough-and-tumble horse race (accompanied by gunshots; Click here) at Sedilo celebrates the victory of the Roman Emperor Constantine over Maxentius in AD 312.
A parade Click here of hundreds of people in 15th-century costume, followed by a jousting tournament, is held at Ascoli Piceno.
One of Venice’s most popular festivities Click here, marked with a fireworks display over the Bacino di San Marco. A pontoon bridge is built to connect the Chiesa del Redentore on the Giudecca with the rest of Venice.
Films, theatre and concerts Click here from an impressive list of international names make Taormina the summer star of Sicily.
Town representatives in Sassari dress in medieval costume and carry huge wooden ‘candlesticks’ through the town Click here.
A repeat of the famous horse race Click here is held in Siena.
Held in Nuoro, this folk festival Click here is attended by thousands of people, dressed in traditional costume, from all over the island.
The Mostra del Cinema di Venezia is held at the Lido and attracts the international film glitterati. Venetians grab the chance to gorge themselves on the latest films.
Sansepolcro in Tuscany hosts a rematch with crossbow sharpshooters from Gubbio.
A Historic Regatta (above) of boats in period dress followed by gondola and other boat races along the Grand Canal in Venice.
The home-grown anti—fast food organisation, the Slow Food Movement, hosts this international sybarites’ get-together Click here in Turin in even-numbered years.
A procession Click here to the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute in Venice gives thanks for the city’s deliverance from plague in 1630.
A series of concerts and exhibitions Click here in Siena to honour the patron saint of musicians.
The weeks preceding Christmas are studded with religious events. Many churches set up nativity scenes known as presepi — Naples is especially famous for these.