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🔔 The Italian Almanac

October 17

Stories and curiosities for October 17, from the Italy of a thousand bell towers.

Vanished Italy 📅 1878

Italy's third-largest lake is now a chequerboard of fields: the Fucino, by Avezzano

Until the 1800s the Fucino, in the Marsica area of Abruzzo, was the third-largest lake in Italy after Garda and Maggiore, about 160 square kilometres. Emperor Claudius tried to drain it between 41 and 52 AD with a 5.6-kilometre tunnel dug by 30,000 men. In 1854 Alessandro Torlonia took up the job again along the Roman line: 4,000 workers a day for 24 years, the water sent down into the river Liri, and on 1 October 1878 the lake was declared dry. In its place lies a grid of farmland, 46 straight roads adding up to 272 kilometres, with Avezzano as the largest town.

📍 Discover Avezzano

Today's tidbits

Bell-tower rivalries

Focaccia di Recco col formaggio: only four towns may use the name

Two paper-thin sheets of unleavened dough with stracchino cheese in between: water, flour, salt, olive oil and cheese, nothing else. Since 2012 in Italy and 2013 across the EU, focaccia di Recco col formaggio has been a protected IGP product, and the rules draw a border on the Ligurian coast east of Genoa: the name belongs only to focaccia baked in Recco, Sori, Camogli or Avegno. The rest of Liguria bakes it too, but cannot put “Recco” on the label. Recco has held its focaccia festival since 1955, in the last week of May.

📍 Recco →
It started here

Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper, was a fisherman's son from Isola delle Femmine

His father, Giuseppe DiMaggio, was a fisherman who left Isola delle Femmine, a seaside town just outside Palermo in Sicily, for California with his wife Rosalia Mercurio. There, in Martinez, the eighth of their nine children was born on 25 November 1914: Joe. He played thirteen seasons for the New York Yankees between 1936 and 1951, won nine World Series and in 1941 hit safely in 56 consecutive games. On 14 January 1954 he married Marilyn Monroe; the marriage lasted about a year. He came back to Italy many times, to visit the relatives who had stayed in Isola delle Femmine.

📍 Isola delle Femmine →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 2

2 towns with a guide celebrate their patron saint on October 17

Other saints of the day 2

Tolentinosan Catervo · Marche Fiorenzuola d'ArdaSan Fiorenzo di Tours · Emilia-Romagna
Patron saint festival 📍 Tolentino

Feast of Saint Catervus

📅 Every year, on 17 October

On 17 October Tolentino celebrates its patron Saint Catervus; the town hosts the International Museum of Humour in Art, founded in 1970, with its international biennial.

Patron saint festival 📍 Fiorenzuola d'Arda

Feast of Saint Florentius

📅 Every year, on 17 October

On 17 October Fiorenzuola d'Arda celebrates its patron Saint Florentius of Tours; in the past the town had a different patron, Saint Boniface, celebrated on 20 August.

Patron saint festival 📍 Calliano

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary and Palio degli asini

📅 Every year, on the weekend of the third Sunday of October

On the weekend of the third Sunday of October Calliano, a municipality of 1,392 inhabitants in the province of Asti, celebrates the Most Holy Name of Mary; in October the Palio degli asini (donkey race), the «Paglio ragliante», is also run.

Festival 📍 Palermo

Ballarò Buskers Festival

📅 Every year, one weekend in October

For three days the alleys of the Ballarò market turn into an open-air stage for street artists and contemporary circus, all free of charge. The ninth edition ran from 17 to 19 October 2025 under the theme 'Radici'.