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🔔 The Italian Almanac

September 19

Stories and curiosities for September 19, from the Italy of a thousand bell towers.

Impossible geography

One square, two countries: the border runs across the pavement

On the square outside the Transalpina railway station, the border between Italy and Slovenia runs straight across the ground: a line of stone slabs with a circular mosaic at its centre, Gorizia on one side, Nova Gorica on the other. The 1947 Paris Treaty cut this corner of Italy's far north-east in two, and for decades a wall stood here. The fence came down in 2004, and since Slovenia joined the Schengen area in late 2007 you can stroll from one country into the other mid-sentence. Slovenians call it Trg Evrope, Europe Square, and the two towns renovated it together for GO! 2025, their shared European Capital of Culture. Straddling the line for a photo has become the local sport.

📍 Discover Gorizia

Today's tidbits

Place names

The Italian village whose name means rooster-strangler

In the hills of southern Lazio, south-east of Rome, sits Strangolagalli, a village of some 2,200 people whose name literally reads as rooster-strangler. Scholars offer three explanations and no certainty: the Byzantine Greek strongylos, circular, joined to a Lombard word for palisade, describing a round settlement; a fourteenth-century nickname for a lord who strangled roosters; even the villa of a Roman patrician named Astragalus Gallus, as a seventeenth-century scholar proposed. The municipal coat of arms does not help the defence: it shows a rampant fox clutching a rooster in its paws.

📍 Strangolagalli →
Bell-tower rivalries

Piadina wars: thick in Forlì, paper-thin in Rimini

In Romagna, the flatbread country of north-eastern Italy, thickness is identity. Around Forlì and Ravenna the piadina is six to eight millimetres thick and generously wide; in Rimini it drops to two or three millimetres, thin and flexible, made to be folded over its filling. The rivalry runs so deep that Europe had to acknowledge it: the Piadina Romagnola PGI, registered in 2014, explicitly recognises a separate Riminese variant. The protected area covers the provinces of Rimini, Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna, plus the Bologna area east of the Sillaro river. On fillings the rules stay silent: there, everyone is free to be wrong by the other town's standards.

📍 Forlì →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 13

13 towns with a guide celebrate their patron saint on September 19

San Gennaro 9

NaplesCampania ErcolanoCampania Somma VesuvianaCampania CercolaCampania San Gennaro VesuvianoCampania CervinaraCampania FolignanoMarche TrecaseCampania NotarescoAbruzzo

Other saints of the day 4

Buonvicinosan Ciriaco Abate · Calabria Raddusasan Giuseppe · Sicily Abbadia San Salvatoresan Marco papa · Tuscany Cugnolisanto Stefano · Abruzzo
Patron saint festival In 327 days 📍 Sporminore

Feast of Maria Addolorata

📅 Every year, on the third Sunday of September

On the third Sunday of September Sporminore, a municipality of 714 inhabitants in the province of Trento, celebrates its patroness Maria Addolorata.

Patron saint festival 📍 Abbadia San Salvatore

Feast of Pope Saint Mark

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Abbadia San Salvatore celebrates Pope Saint Mark; the abbey preserves the saint's bust reliquary, made by Mariano d'Agnolo Romanelli in 1381, and a chasuble attributed to him from the 8th century.

Patron saint festival 📍 Buonvicino

Feast of Saint Cyriacus the Abbot

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Buonvicino celebrates Saint Cyriacus the Abbot; the village has dedicated two churches to him, one inside caves, plus a monumental statue in the square.

Patron saint festival 📍 Trecase

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Trecase celebrates Saint Januarius, long invoked for protection from Vesuvius eruptions; when the procession returns, the "Incendio del Campanile" is held, a fireworks display simulating the bell tower catching fire.

Patron saint festival 📍 Torre del Greco

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Torre del Greco celebrates Saint Januarius, one of its four patrons; the town keeps alive the tradition of the Festa dei Quattro Altari, born on the octave day of Corpus Christi.

Patron saint festival 📍 Afragola

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Afragola celebrates Saint Januarius, one of the city's patrons; the main feast, however, remains that of Saint Anthony of Padua, on 13 June, which has made Afragola known as the "Padua of the South".

Patron saint festival 📍 Notaresco

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Notaresco celebrates Saint Januarius; the municipality also preserves the ancient church of San Clemente al Vomano.

Patron saint festival 📍 Folignano

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Folignano celebrates Saint Januarius; every year a delegation of the village, in historical costume, takes part in the parade of the Quintana di Ascoli Piceno.

Patron saint festival 📍 Cervinara

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Cervinara celebrates Saint Januarius; the village also preserves the keep and the Palazzo Marchesale, remains of its old castle.

Patron saint festival 📍 Cercola

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Cercola celebrates Saint Januarius; one of the town's churches, dedicated to the Madonna delle Grazie, also carries the patron saint's name.

Patron saint festival 📍 Somma Vesuviana

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Somma Vesuviana celebrates Saint Januarius; the municipality also preserves the remains of the Villa Augustea, a Roman villa from the imperial age.

Patron saint festival 📍 San Gennaro Vesuviano

Feast of Saint Januarius

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September San Gennaro Vesuviano celebrates the patron the municipality is named after; the same day also halts the oldest fair in southern Italy, founded in the 17th century by Marquis Scipione Pignatelli, for the Mass held in the saint's memory.

Patron saint festival 📍 Raddusa

Feast of Saint Joseph

📅 Every year, on 19 September

On 19 September Raddusa celebrates Saint Joseph in thanks for the wheat harvest; the saint is celebrated here twice a year, on 19 March, his liturgical feast day, and on 19 September, chosen as the patronal feast.

Patron saint festival In 327 days 📍 Meleti

Feast of San Cristoforo

📅 Every year, on the third Sunday of September

On the third Sunday of September Meleti, a municipality of 466 inhabitants in the province of Lodi, celebrates its patron San Cristoforo.

Patron saint festival In 327 days 📍 Buriasco

Feast of San Michele Arcangelo

📅 Every year, on the third Sunday of September

On the third Sunday of September Buriasco, a municipality of 1,405 inhabitants in the province of Turin, celebrates its patron San Michele Arcangelo.

Patron saint festival In 327 days 📍 Venasca

Feast of Santa Lucia

📅 Every year, on the third Sunday of September

On the third Sunday of September Venasca, a municipality of 1,472 inhabitants in the province of Cuneo, celebrates its patroness Santa Lucia.