© Fabrizio Lunardi · CC0edited by BigItalia · Request removal
🔔 The Italian Almanac

September in the almanac

One day at a time: the stories, the month's festivals and the villages that tell them.

The days of September 30

Days with a story are highlighted; on the others you still find the towns celebrating and the village of the day.

1 The Italian town completely surrounded by Switzerland Impossible geography 2 Arancino or arancina? Sicily's fried-rice grammar war Bell-tower rivalries 3 Italy's 'armistice of 8 September' was actually signed on the 3rd Busted myths 4 Bank of America began with a family from Favale di Malvaro It started here 5 Salorno, the gorge where the German-speaking world ends Impossible geography 6 Spaghetti bolognese does not exist in Bologna Busted myths 7 The slap that probably never landed Saying of the day 8 A navel halfway between Bologna and Modena Bell-tower rivalries 9 Genoa is sewn into the word jeans Words born here 10 When Italy was governed from Brindisi Vanished Italy 11 Tiramisu was born in Treviso — then Italy's ministry filed it under Friuli Bell-tower rivalries 12 No, the cappuccino was not invented in Vienna to honour the friar from Aviano Busted myths 13 Cospaia, the republic born of a surveying error Impossible geography 14 Dante's bones and the sarcophagus emptied in secret Bell-tower rivalries 15 The day Turin stopped being Italy's capital Vanished Italy 16 Jacuzzi, the surname from Friuli that became a bathtub It started here 17 Gorgonzola is named after a town near Milan, but its capital is Novara Bell-tower rivalries 18 The Godfather's Corleone was never Corleone: it was Savoca Busted myths 19 One square, two countries: the border runs across the pavement Impossible geography 20 A thirty-metre breach to end eleven centuries Vanished Italy 21 From Rapallo to San Francisco, one chocolate empire It started here 22 Limoncello, one liqueur with five hometowns Bell-tower rivalries 23 Livigno, the Italian town where customs never enter Impossible geography 24 From Oderzo to Mr. Peanut: the boy behind Planters It started here 25 1927, the year Sicily lost two of its names Vanished Italy 26 The queen, the pizza and a letter historians distrust Busted myths 27 Craco, the ghost town with a film career Vanished Italy 28 Rudolph Valentino, from a Puglia ravine town to first screen idol It started here 29 Fettuccine Alfredo, the Italian classic Italy has never heard of Busted myths 30 The bell tower rising from Lake Resia Vanished Italy

🎉 Festivals in September

Patron saint festival 📍 Piana degli Albanesi

Feast of Maria Santissima Odigitria

📅 Every year on 2 September, with celebrations from the last days of August

The patron saint's day falls on 2 September, with the eparch's pontifical liturgy in the morning and an evening procession of the Madonna's statue; festivities start in late August.

Patron saint festival 📍 Vicenza

The Festa dei Oto

📅 Every year, on 7 and 8 September

On 8 September Vicenza celebrates the Madonna di Monte Berico, its patron. In dialect it is the festa dei Oto, the feast of the eighth, and it opens the evening before with the procession of the Jewel of Vicenza.

Tomorrow 📍 Asti

Douja d'Or

📅 September, approximate dates

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

Patron saint festival In 2 days 📍 Reggio di Calabria

The Madonna della Consolazione

📅 Every year, on the second Saturday of September; Saint George on 23 April

On the second Saturday of September Reggio carries the Vara with the image of the Madonna della Consolazione in procession. The other patron, Saint George, has his date on 23 April.

Patron saint festival In 10 days 📍 Andria

Saint Richard and the Madonna dei Miracoli

📅 Every year, on the third Sunday of September; the April Fair in spring

Andria celebrates its patrons on the third Sunday of September. The second feast, the April Fair, recalls 1438: the year the body of Saint Richard, lost during a siege, was found again.

Patron saint festival In 15 days 📍 Alberobello

Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian

📅 Every year, from 25 to 28 September

Alberobello's patrons are two physicians, Cosmas and Damian, and their feast runs four days: 25 to 28 September, with the relics kept in the basilica named after them.

Patron saint festival In 19 days 📍 Alghero

Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel

📅 Every year, on 29 September

On 29 September Alghero celebrates Saint Michael the Archangel. The most intense stretch of its religious year, though, remains Holy Week, with the Friday rite of the Deposition.

Patron saint festival In 19 days 📍 Vasto

Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel

📅 Every year, on 29 September

Protector of Vasto since the seventeenth century, Saint Michael became so officially in 1837, when prayers to him were credited with turning aside the typhus and malarial fevers rising from the coast.

Procession 📍 Catania

Feast of the Madonna di Ognina

📅 Every year in early September

In early September the fishing quarter of Ognina honours its "Bammina": the statue is unveiled on the morning of the 8th, then carried across the gulf in a sea procession flanked by decorated boats, with a fish festival on the square.

The full Italian year →

This month in Italy

Historical Regatta

On the first Sunday, the historical procession and races on the Grand Canal.

📍 Venezia →

Feast of San Gennaro

On 19 September the city awaits the miracle of its patron's blood in the cathedral.

📍 Napoli →

Chilli Pepper Festival

The seafront becomes Italy's spicy capital: contests, culture and fire on the tongue.

📍 Diamante →

The Mastrogiurato

The re-enactment of the medieval investiture that opened the great free fairs.

📍 Lanciano →

Douja d'Or

The Piedmontese wine fair animates the palaces of the centre for a week.

📍 Asti →