The Italian Almanac for September 11: stories and curiosities

Bell-tower rivalries 📅 2017

Tiramisu was born in Treviso — then Italy's ministry filed it under Friuli

In Treviso, near Venice, the matter seemed settled: tiramisu was created at the Le Beccherie restaurant between the late 1960s and early 1970s by pastry chef Roberto Linguanotto, known as Loly. Then in July 2017 Italy's agriculture ministry listed the recipe among the traditional products of the neighbouring Friuli Venezia Giulia region, which points to older ancestors: the Coppa Vetturino served by Mario Cosolo in Pieris from 1938, and Norma Pielli's dessert at the Albergo Roma in Tolmezzo in the 1950s. Over one of the world's best-known desserts, the two regions have yet to sign a peace treaty.

📍 Discover Treviso

Today's tidbits

Italian records 2015

Capracotta 2015: the snowfall that outdid a century-old world record — on paper

At 1,421 metres, Capracotta in Molise — a small mountain region of central-southern Italy — sits on territory that is among the highest of the Apennines, and snow is part of its routine. March 2015 was different: reports spoke of 256 centimetres fallen in just 18 hours, more than the 193 centimetres in 24 hours recorded at Silver Lake, Colorado, back in 1921. Measurements taken to official standards later scaled the figure down to 90-120 centimetres — still enormous — and the exceptional event was even acknowledged by Guinness World Records. Not bad for a village in the province of Isernia.

📍 Capracotta →

Words born here

Cantaloupe: the world's melon is named after a tiny village near Rieti

Anyone buying a cantaloup in Paris or a cantaloupe in New York is unknowingly pronouncing the name of Cantalupo in Sabina, a small village in the province of Rieti, north-east of Rome, once home to a papal summer estate. It was there, in the 18th century, that these melons were first grown — tradition says Catholic missionaries brought them back from the East. The place name stuck to the fruit, slipped into French and then into English, where cantaloupe has been attested since 1739. From a hillside village in the Sabina to fruit stalls across the planet.

📍 Cantalupo in Sabina →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 6

6 towns with a guide celebrate their patron saint on September 11

Other saints of the day 6

Buti · Tuscany Carnagosan Martino · Lombardy Castiglione Messer MarinoSan Raffaele · Abruzzo Cercemaggioresan Vincenzo martire · Molise Chiaveranosanta Teodora, San Silvestro · Piedmont Cocconatosanti Fausto e Felice · Piedmont

Tomorrow 📍 Asti

Douja d'Or

📅 September, approximate dates

The national wine fair that lights up Asti as the harvest begins.

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.