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🔔 The Italian Almanac

September 14

Stories and curiosities for September 14, from the Italy of a thousand bell towers.

Bell-tower rivalries 📅 1321

Dante's bones and the sarcophagus emptied in secret

Dante died in Ravenna, on Italy's Adriatic coast, in the night between 13 and 14 September 1321, and Florence, the city that had exiled him, never quite accepted it. In 1519 Pope Leo X allowed the Florentines to collect the poet's bones, with Michelangelo commissioned for the funeral monument. But the Franciscan friars of Ravenna got there first: through a hole cut from the cloister they had emptied the sarcophagus and hidden the remains. The box, walled up in the oratory next door, resurfaced by pure chance on 27 May 1865, found by a mason during building works. The bones are still in Ravenna.

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Today's tidbits

Saying of the day 1077

Going to Canossa: three days barefoot in the snow

From 25 to 27 January 1077, Emperor Henry IV waited for three days and three nights before the gate of Canossa castle, in the Apennines near Reggio Emilia in northern Italy: kneeling, barefoot, dressed in sackcloth, his head covered in ashes, while a snowstorm raged. Inside were Pope Gregory VII and his host, Matilda of Canossa. On 28 January the pope received him: the humiliation had worked. Ever since, going to Canossa has meant backing down and admitting a fault, in more than one language. In 1872 Bismarck made the phrase immortal, declaring that he would not go to Canossa, neither in body nor in spirit.

📍 Canossa →
Italian records 1545

In Padua, the world's oldest university botanical garden

A decree of the Venetian Senate founded a garden of medicinal plants in Padua, northern Italy, in 1545, at the request of Francesco Bonafede, so that pharmacists could tell true remedies from fakes. That Garden of the Simples is still there, on the very same spot: it is the oldest university botanical garden in the world still in its original location, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Its oldest plant is a dwarf palm planted in 1585; Goethe saw it in 1786 and drew on it for his ideas on the metamorphosis of plants. It has been called Goethe's palm ever since.

📍 Padua →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 17

17 towns with a guide celebrate their patron saint on September 14

Santissimo Crocifisso 5

CariniSicily Belmonte MezzagnoSicily MonteiasiPuglia FavignanaSicily Forza d'AgròSicily

Esaltazione della Santa Croce 3

MonegliaLiguria VajontFriuli Venezia Giulia Cerretto LanghePiedmont

Santa Croce 3

BeverinoLiguria BeePiedmont CarrosioPiedmont

Other saints of the day 6

Francavilla FontanaMaria Santissima della Fontana · Puglia Romano di Lombardiasan Defendente · Lombardy Cellenosan Donato · Lazio Pescosolidosan Giovanni Battista · Lazio FicarazziSantissimo Crocifisso delle Grazie · Sicily PeveragnoSanto Nome di Maria · Piedmont
Patron saint festival 📍 Montemaggiore Belsito

Feast of Saint Agatha

📅 Every year, on 14 September and 5 February

On 14 September Montemaggiore Belsito celebrates Saint Agatha, the patron to whom the town's basilica is also dedicated; the town celebrates her again on 5 February.

Patron saint festival 📍 Celleno

Feast of Saint Donatus

📅 Every year, on 14 September

On 14 September Celleno celebrates Saint Donatus; in September the historic centre also becomes an open-air stage for the Teverina Buskers, the international street artists' festival.

Patron saint festival In 322 days 📍 Irsina

Feast of Saint Euphemia

📅 Every year, from 14 to 17 September

From 14 to 17 September Irsina celebrates Saint Euphemia: on the 16th the keys of the city are handed to the archbishop, and by him to the patroness.

Patron saint festival 📍 Samassi

Feast of Saint Geminianus ("Sa Festa Manna")

📅 Every year, from 14 to 17 September

On 16 September Samassi celebrates its patron Saint Geminianus of Cagliari, known in Campidanese as "Santu Millanu", in its most cherished feast, called "Sa Festa Manna"; religious rites begin on 8 September and last ten days.

Patron saint festival 📍 Pescosolido

Feast of Saint John the Baptist

📅 Every year, on 14 September

On 14 September Pescosolido celebrates Saint John the Baptist; the village also remembers the evening of 8 September 1943, when the bells rang long for the armistice, before German occupation arrived anyway a month later.

Patron saint festival 📍 Monterosi

Feast of Saints Vincent and Anastasius

📅 Every year, on 14 September and 22 January

On 14 September Monterosi celebrates Saints Vincent and Anastasius, also honoured on 22 January; early in the year the town also holds the Sagra della Pizzantiella, its typical stuffed crêpe.

Patron saint festival 📍 Mattinata

Feast of Santa Maria della Luce

📅 Every year, from 14 to 16 September

From 14 to 16 September Mattinata celebrates Santa Maria della Luce, the patron first invoked in 1894 after the strong earthquakes that had struck the town; on the last day her painting is carried in procession with the statues of Saint Anthony and Saint Michael the Archangel.

Patron saint festival 📍 Vajont

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

📅 Every year, on 14 September

On 14 September Vajont celebrates the Exaltation of the Holy Cross; in 2014 the municipality named its library after writer Carlo Sgorlon, who told the story of the 1963 tragedy in his novel "L'ultima valle".

Patron saint festival 📍 Carrosio

Feast of the Holy Cross

📅 Every year, on 14 September

On 14 September Carrosio celebrates the Holy Cross; the village also remembers 2 September 1815, when King Victor Emmanuel I and Queen Maria Teresa of Austria-Este passed through, greeted with great celebration by the people.

Patron saint festival 📍 Bee

Feast of the Holy Cross

📅 Every year, on 14 September

On 14 September Bee celebrates the Holy Cross; the village's parish church bears the same title.

Patron saint festival 📍 Peveragno

Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

📅 Every year, on 14 September

On 14 September Peveragno celebrates the Holy Name of Mary; the town also holds a fair documented since 1396, when the Princes of Acaja confirmed its privileges.

Patron saint festival 📍 Lumarzo

Saint Camillus de Lellis, patron on the Monday after the feast of the Bosco sanctuary

📅 Every year, on the first Monday after the Feast of the Madonna del Bosco (the first Sunday after 8 September)

Lumarzo celebrates Saint Camillus de Lellis on the first Monday after the Feast of the Madonna del Bosco, which falls on the first Sunday after 8 September; the Marian feast takes its name from the sanctuary of Nostra Signora del Bosco, in the hamlet of Pannesi, linked to an apparition in 1555.