© The original uploader was Paolo Steffan at Italian Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0Request removal
🔔 The Italian Almanac

September 16

Stories and curiosities for September 16, from the Italy of a thousand bell towers.

It started here

Jacuzzi, the surname from Friuli that became a bathtub

Seven brothers who had left Casarsa della Delizia, a small town in Friuli, in Italy's northeast, set up Jacuzzi Bros in California in 1915. They started with wooden aircraft propellers, flown by the US military in the First World War. The turning point came at home: in 1943 Candido Jacuzzi found that hydrotherapy sessions eased the severe rheumatoid arthritis of his son Kenneth. A submersible pump, the J-300, followed in 1956, and in 1968 the world's first whirlpool bath. The family name from Friuli went on to become the word for the tub itself.

📍 Discover Casarsa della Delizia

Today's tidbits

Impossible geography

Monte Isola, the mountain in the middle of a lake

In the middle of Lake Iseo, in Lombardy in northern Italy, one municipality is both an island and a mountain: Monte Isola rises to 600 metres, its dozen or so villages scattered from the harbour of Peschiera Maraglio to the town hall in Siviano. It is often billed as Europe's largest lake island; that is wrong — the real record is national, the largest in Italy. The lesser-known title is the surprising one: islanders made fishing nets here for centuries, and until the 1970s Monte Isola was one of the world's leading producers, alongside a long tradition of wooden boatbuilding.

📍 Monte Isola →
Place names

Mezzojuso, a Sicilian name with two pasts

Two stories compete over the name of Mezzojuso, a town in the hills inland from Palermo, in Sicily. One looks at the steep slope it clings to, with a good half of the inhabitants living literally 'down below' the main square; the other, recorded by the Arab geographer Edrisi, reads it as Manzil Yusuf, 'Joseph's hamlet', a trace of the island's Islamic centuries. A third layer came later: around 1444, Albanian soldiers led by Demetrio Reres settled here, and much of the town still keeps the Byzantine rite of its Arbereshe founders.

📍 Mezzojuso →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 22

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

Santi Cornelio e Cipriano 6

Cerro MaggioreLombardy Albano Sant'AlessandroLombardy Vaiano CremascoLombardy ArtogneLombardy CalcataLazio MattiePiedmont

Sant'Eufemia 4

Alba AdriaticaAbruzzo OggionoLombardy CarinaroCampania Neviano degli ArduiniEmilia-Romagna

Sant'Eufemia di Calcedonia 2

IrsinaBasilicata Sant'Eufemia d'AspromonteCalabria

Other saints of the day 10

LancianoMadonna del Ponte · Abruzzo San Cipriano Picentinosan Cipriano · Campania Samassisan Gemiliano da Cagliari · Sardinia Melendugnosan Niceta il Goto · Puglia Atripaldasan Sabino di Avellino · Campania Serra Sant'Abbondiosant'Abbondio · Marche Matelicasant'Adriano · Marche Tegliosant'Eufemia martire · Lombardy Sutrisanta Dolcissima · Lazio Civita Castellanasanti Giovanni e Marciano, martiri romani · Lazio
Patron saint festival 📍 Serra Sant'Abbondio

Feast of Saint Abundius

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Serra Sant'Abbondio celebrates Saint Abundius; on the second Sunday of September the village holds the Palio della Rocca, born in 1987, with a contest among the old boroughs decided by a goose race.

Patron saint festival 📍 Matelica

Feast of Saint Adrian

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Matelica celebrates Saint Adrian; in summer the town also hosts the International Folklore Festival, organised by the "Città di Matelica" association.

Patron saint festival 📍 Sutri

Feast of Saint Dulcissima

📅 Every year, on 16 and 17 September

On 16 September, the dies natalis of its patron, Sutri celebrates Saint Dulcissima with a procession; on the evening of the 17th the fireworks display and torchlight procession are held inside the Roman amphitheatre.

Patron saint festival 📍 Teglio

Feast of Saint Euphemia

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Teglio celebrates Saint Euphemia the Martyr; the town also preserves Palazzo Besta, now a museum.

Patron saint festival 📍 Neviano degli Arduini

Feast of Saint Euphemia

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Neviano degli Arduini celebrates Saint Euphemia; the town also has the Historical Museum of the Resistance, with exhibits on hemp processing and wine production following local traditions.

Patron saint festival 📍 Oggiono

Feast of Saint Euphemia

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Oggiono celebrates Saint Euphemia; in the church dedicated to her, beneath the painting depicting her, a paper balloon called the "faro" is burned during Mass in memory of her martyrdom.

Patron saint festival 📍 Copertino

Feast of Saint Joseph of Copertino

📅 Every year, from 16 to 19 September

On 18 September Copertino celebrates its most famous saint, Joseph of Copertino; the feast runs from the 16th to the 19th, and since 1945 the town has published the satirical newspaper "La Macennula" for the occasion.

Patron saint festival 📍 Atripalda

Feast of Saint Sabinus

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Atripalda celebrates Saint Sabinus of Avellino; in the first week of the month the historic centre also hosts Giullarte, the international festival of street artists and crafts.

Patron saint festival 📍 Calcata

Feast of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Calcata celebrates Saints Cornelius and Cyprian; the village also keeps the story of a relic discovered in 1557, venerated ever since and tied to an indulgence for pilgrims.

Patron saint festival 📍 Civita Castellana

Feast of Saints John and Marcian

📅 Every year, on 16 September

On 16 September Civita Castellana celebrates Saints John and Marcian, Roman martyrs; the town also has two cherished traditions, the historic Carnevale Civitonico and the Ludi Borgiani, the procession re-enacting the arrival of Pope Alexander VI Borgia.

Patron saint festival 📍 Lanciano

Feast of the Madonna del Ponte

📅 Every year, on 16 September, closing the feste di Settembre

On 16 September Lanciano celebrates the Madonna del Ponte, closing the "Settembre Lancianese" that opens on 1 September; the night of the 13th re-enacts, in the cathedral square, the arrival of blessed crowns from Rome, and the feast is woven together with the medieval re-enactment of the Mastrogiurato.