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🔔 The Italian Almanac

September 10

Stories and curiosities for September 10, from the Italy of a thousand bell towers.

Vanished Italy 📅 1943

When Italy was governed from Brindisi

At 4 p.m. on 10 September 1943 the corvette Baionetta sailed into the harbour of Brindisi, in Puglia, at the heel of the Italian boot. On board were King Vittorio Emanuele III and the royal family, who had boarded at Ortona, and Marshal Badoglio with ministers and chiefs of staff, embarked at Pescara — all fleeing Rome since dawn the day before, in the wake of the armistice with the Allies. The government of what remained of the Kingdom of Italy settled in the port city, and Brindisi stayed its seat until February 1944, when the government moved to Salerno.

📍 Discover Brindisi

Today's tidbits

Busted myths 1939

Juliet's balcony dates from 1939

Romeo never stood beneath it: the balcony of Juliet's House in Verona was added only in 1939, when Antonio Avena, director of the city's museums, completed the house-museum arrangement. For the parapet he reused a fourteenth-century slab of Avesa stone that had come from a palace of the Della Scala, Verona's medieval lords, and had it mounted on two red marble corbels made for the purpose, taking his cue from the hanging tombs of the 1300s as an allusion to the lovers' fate. Whoever leans out from it today is photographing a twentieth-century museum installation.

📍 Verona →
Place names

California, Lombardy: a hamlet in Brianza

The town of Lesmo, in the Brianza area north of Milan (province of Monza e Brianza), counts three hamlets: Gerno, Peregallo and California. No misprint: this Lombard California has its houses and even its own church, dedicated to the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. How the name of the American state landed among the hills of Brianza is a question the sources leave open. Meanwhile the people who live there can say, quite truthfully, that their home is in California.

📍 Lesmo →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 16

16 towns with a guide celebrate their patron saint on September 10

San Nicola da Tolentino 9

Rosignano MarittimoTuscany MontoroCampania ViadanaLombardy MonterubbianoMarche San Nicola ArcellaCalabria Sant'Angelo in PontanoMarche AlbiCalabria ArsitaAbruzzo MornesePiedmont

Other saints of the day 7

Belmonte in SabinaMaria SS. della Croce · Lazio CaltavuturoMaria Santissima del Soccorso · Sicily Sperlongasan Leone Magno e san Rocco · Lazio San Nicolò d'Arcidanosan Nicola di Bari · Sardinia San Sostenesan Sostene di Calcedonia · Calabria Ciglianosant'Emiliano · Piedmont Sortinosanta Sofia · Sicily
Patron saint festival In 318 days 📍 Sortino

Feast of Saint Sophia

📅 Every year, from 10 to 17 September

From 10 to 17 September Sortino celebrates its patroness, Saint Sophia, in the town of honey and puppets above the necropolis of Pantalica.

Patron saint festival In 318 days 📍 Arsita

Feast of San Nicola da Tolentino

📅 Every year, on 10 September

On 10 September Arsita, a municipality of 871 inhabitants in the province of Teramo, celebrates its patron San Nicola da Tolentino.

Patron saint festival In 318 days 📍 Albi

Feast of San Nicola da Tolentino

📅 Every year, on 10 September

On 10 September Albi, a municipality of 1,010 inhabitants in the province of Catanzaro, celebrates its patron San Nicola da Tolentino.

Patron saint festival In 318 days 📍 San Nicola Arcella

Feast of San Nicola da Tolentino

📅 Every year, on 10 September

On 10 September San Nicola Arcella, a municipality of 1,751 inhabitants in the province of Cosenza, celebrates its patron San Nicola da Tolentino with a procession, mass, festive lights and fireworks.

Patron saint festival In 318 days 📍 Mornese

Feast of San Nicola da Tolentino

📅 Every year, on 10 September, with the Fiera di San Nicola on the 11th

On 10 September Mornese, a municipality of 726 inhabitants in the province of Alessandria, celebrates its patron San Nicola da Tolentino; the next day the traditional Fiera di San Nicola is held.

Patron saint festival In 318 days 📍 Castiglione Messer Marino

Feast of San Raffaele

📅 Every year, on 10, 11 and 12 September

On 10, 11 and 12 September Castiglione Messer Marino, a municipality of 1,898 inhabitants in the province of Chieti, celebrates its patron San Raffaele.

Patron saint festival In 318 days 📍 San Sostene

Feast of San Sostene

📅 Every year, on 10 September (second Sunday of September)

On 10 September San Sostene, a municipality of 1,311 inhabitants in the province of Catanzaro, celebrates in its historic centre its patron San Sostene of Chalcedon, martyr.

Festival 📍 Palermo

Palermo Comic Convention

📅 Every year in September

Comics, cosplay, gaming and film take over the Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa for four days each September. Launched in 2015, the convention marked its tenth edition in September 2025.