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🔔 The Italian Almanac

October 25

Stories and curiosities for October 25, from the Italy of a thousand bell towers.

Italian records 📅 1585

Vicenza's Teatro Olimpico, the oldest permanent indoor theatre of the modern age, still plays in front of its 1585 stage set

Andrea Palladio drew the plans for the Accademia Olimpica in 1580 and died that August, with the building site barely open; his son Silla carried on from his father's notes. On 3 March 1585 Vicenza, in the Veneto, watched Sophocles' Oedipus Rex in front of Vincenzo Scamozzi's wooden and stucco scenery, the seven streets of Thebes drawn in perspective and meant to be temporary. Nobody ever took it down. Four centuries later it still stands, the only set of its kind from that era, in a 470-seat hall that is the first permanent covered theatre of the modern age and a UNESCO site since 1994.

📍 Discover Vicenza

Today's tidbits

Place names

Bagnacavallo owes its name to a river ford, not to Emperor Tiberius's horse

A few old texts claim that a spring at Bagnacavallo, in the Ravenna countryside of Emilia-Romagna, healed horses, and that Emperor Tiberius's own steed took the cure; the town's coat of arms still believes it, showing a silver horse standing in a river under the motto “I enter sick, I leave healthy”, a nod to Cyllarus, the horse of the Dioscuri. Historians have dropped the idea. In the early Middle Ages the place was called castrum Tiberiacum (so in 756), and Balneocaballum turns up in the 10th century as the name of the old bed of the river Senio: there was a ford there, and crossing it meant getting the horses wet. No miracle spring, just a river in the way.

📍 Bagnacavallo →
It started here

Madonna's grandparents left from Pacentro, a hill village under the Maiella in Abruzzo where Casa Ciccone still stands

Gaetano Ciccone and Michelina Di Iulio emigrated from Pacentro, in the province of L'Aquila, to the United States; their son Silvio, known as Tony, born in 1931, became the father of Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, born in Bay City, Michigan, on 16 August 1958. In the village, home today to 1,060 people, the old family house is still called Casa Ciccone. Around it, a place the 20th century emptied in waves of emigration: houses climbing the slope beneath the Maiella massif, a castle built by the Normans in the 11th century and strengthened by Jacopo Caldora in the 1400s, its towers topped with battlements, and a listing among the most beautiful villages of Italy.

📍 Pacentro →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 5

5 towns with a guide celebrate their patron saint on October 25

San Gavino 2

IlloraiSardinia OniferiSardinia

Other saints of the day 3

San Mauro Pascolisan Crispino · Emilia-Romagna Porto Sant'Elpidiosan Crispino di Soissons · Marche Camposanosan Gavino Martire · Campania
Patron saint festival 📍 San Mauro Pascoli

Feast of Saint Crispin

📅 Every year, on 25 October

On 25 October San Mauro Pascoli celebrates its patron Saint Crispin, protector of shoemakers; the town, which bears the name of poet Giovanni Pascoli, has re-enacted the trial over his father's murder every August since 2001.

Patron saint festival 📍 Illorai

Feast of Saint Gavinus

📅 Every year, on 25 October

On 25 October Illorai celebrates its patron Saint Gavinus; the town hosts the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Snow, home to one of Sardinia's "long feasts".

Patron saint festival 📍 Oniferi

Feast of Saint Gavinus

📅 Every year, on 25 October

On 25 October Oniferi celebrates its patron Saint Gavinus; the town is a living center of the canto a tenore tradition, a UNESCO World Heritage element.

Patron saint festival 📍 Gavoi

Feast of Saint Gavinus

📅 Every year, on 25 October

On 25 October Gavoi celebrates its patron Saint Gavinus; the municipal territory preserves nuragic remains, including the Nuraghe Littoleri.

Patron saint festival 📍 Camposano

Feast of Saint Gavinus the Martyr

📅 Every year, on 25 October

On 25 October Camposano celebrates its patron Saint Gavinus the Martyr, whose choice has no documented historical reason; many faithful say they have received favours through his intercession.

Patron saint festival 📍 Atrani

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

📅 Every year, on the Sunday closest to 22 October

On the Sunday closest to 22 October Atrani celebrates its patron Saint Mary Magdalene; the village appears in M.C. Escher's woodcut "Metamorphosis II".

Patron saint festival 📍 Olevano di Lomellina

Feast of San Michele Arcangelo

📅 Every year, on the fourth Sunday of October

On the fourth Sunday of October Olevano di Lomellina, a municipality of 783 inhabitants in the province of Pavia, celebrates its patron San Michele Arcangelo (Saint Michael the Archangel).

Patron saint festival 📍 Caselle Landi

Feast of San Savino

📅 Every year, on the fourth Sunday of October

On the fourth Sunday of October Caselle Landi, a municipality of 1,652 inhabitants in the province of Lodi, celebrates its patron San Savino of Piacenza.

Patron saint festival 📍 Galgagnano

Feast of San Sisinio

📅 Every year, on the fourth Sunday of October

On the fourth Sunday of October Galgagnano, a municipality of 1,208 inhabitants in the province of Lodi, celebrates its patron San Sisinio.

Patron saint festival 📍 Tortorella

Feasts of Saint Vitus, Saint Felix and Saint Urban

📅 Every year, on 25 May, 15 June and the last Sunday of October

Tortorella, a municipality of 563 inhabitants in the province of Salerno, celebrates its patrons Saint Vitus, Saint Felix the Martyr and Saint Urban on 25 May, 15 June and the last Sunday of October.

Patron saint festival 📍 Marostica

Saint Simeon, patron of the land of the living chess game

📅 Every year, on the last Sunday of October; late May holds the Cherry Festival

Marostica celebrates Saint Simeon on the last Sunday of October. Late May brings the Cherry Festival, spring the Festa di Primavera, while since 2007 the second Sunday of June has hosted the Palio dea Caretera, reenacting the old Marostica cart race held in 1956-1957-1958.

Patron saint festival 📍 Castano Primo

Saint Zeno, patron with the Feast of the Crucifix every 25 years

📅 Every year, on the last Sunday of October; the Feast of the Crucifix is held every 25 years

Castano Primo celebrates Saint Zeno on the last Sunday of October. The Feast of the Holy Crucifix, the most deeply felt religious event in the whole area, has been held every 25 years since the mid-19th century and draws thousands of people from the town, nearby villages and the whole province.

Patron saint festival 📍 Miglianico

The Coming of Saint Pantaleon, patron of October

📅 Every year, on the last Sunday of October, the Feast of the Coming

Miglianico celebrates the Coming of Saint Pantaleon on the last Sunday of October, in memory of the statue's arrival in the Church of San Michele Arcangelo in the early sixteenth century.