Ferragosto

Many of you have realized that traveling to Europe in August may not be the best idea. Many people take a holiday during the month of August, and a lot of businesses shut down for the month. Here in Italy, it is no different. There is a holiday on August 15th called "Ferragosto" which celebrates the assumption of Mary. It is a national holiday in Italy and everything closes on that day. Really, most businesses shut down completely for at least that week, if not the entire month of August. Thankfully, the grocery stores are still open! But all of the small businesses near our house were shut down at the end of July, and re-open around August 27th.

Cinque Terre (just one of the many places that will be packed
full of people)

Most people take this opportunity to flee the stiflingly hot cities and head to the sea or mountains. Resorts are completely packed, and the sea is full of Italians sun bathing and enjoying their vacation. Ferragosto is celebrated typically with a feast or bbq and spending time with friends and family on the sea. For Josh and me it will be no different. We have found an amazing hotel north of Venice that we will visit for the week. Thankfully, there is a pool!! Lots of swimming in store for this preggo lady, I can't wait! We are now officially in the hottest time of the year. Thankfully, it will be over in a couple of weeks (at least I'm hoping!).

Liguria (west of Genoa), another beach that will be packed!!

So, word to the wise! If you plan on traveling to Europe in August, expect many places to be shut down in the big cities, resorts to be more expensive than normal, and TONS of Europeans to be crowding the seas and lakes. We are now officially in the peak tourist season of Italy (mainly European tourists). People here really enjoy their holidays and they make a big deal out of taking at least two weeks off every year to relax. This is a new mentality for me that was difficult to get used to. Americans typically don't take more than a few days off from work at a time, let alone taking 2-4 weeks off in the summer. I could definitely get on board with the European mentality though :)

Festa Della Liberazione- Liberation Day

So, it’s a beautiful Monday afternoon and a holiday in Italy. Since I had nothing to do I thought I would take a nice walk from our apartment to the city center and enjoy the afternoon at the Duomo. Since it was a holiday and none of the shops were open, I figured it would be a pretty peaceful walk downtown and back. Once I got down to Porto Venezia (a large intersection about halfway to downtown) there was a lot of foot traffic and local police officers directing traffic. This is definitely not normal, so I was curious what was going on. A couple blocks closer to the city center, the street was completely blocked off to street traffic and it looked like there were some street vendors selling t-shirts and food. I was thinking that it could be some sort of celebration or street fair? Talk about a bad day to leave the camera at home…

After walking a few more blocks there were more people, and demonstrations happening, peace flags, and red flags with the hammer and sickle. As I looked around I noticed quite a diverse crowd of people. I felt like I was back in Northern California and all of the hippies had come out of hiding!! If you ever wondered if hippies existed in Milan… well they do!! Seeing the communist flag being flown made me very uneasy… but it seemed like a peaceful demonstration, so I kept walking. A few more blocks down and the sidewalks were completely packed, the street was

full of demonstrators, and all of a sudden there were about 20 Carabinieri lining the street decked out in SWAT gear. It looked like they were ready for a riot to break out, carrying shields, wearing masks and everything else that applies! That completely freaked me out, so I took a side street back to the park and made my way home. I did not want to be in a place with so many people if riots were expected!! No thank you.

After getting home and doing a little research, I learned that the reason today is a holiday is because it commemorates the end of WWII in Italy. On April 25^th, 1945, the Mussolini regime was overthrown, and the German-Fascist control of Italy ended. I found a great quote on http://italianopinionist.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/25-april-1945-italys-liberation-day/:

April the 25th “commemorates the liberation of Italy by Allied troops in the Second World War. The holiday is meant to honor all those who died during the war, from soldiers fighting overseas to civilian victims of Allied bombings and atrocities committed during Nazi Germany’s bitter retreat from its former ally’s territory. The lives of those who served as partisans in the Italian Resistance are especially honored.”

The reason people were demonstrating was a celebration! It was a celebration of the end of the Nazi’s occupying Italy. After doing more research I feel better about the meaning of the holiday, but not about that crowd that was moving towards downtown. I’m guessing the Carabinieri were only there as a precaution since so many people were expected. All in all, I learned a little more about Italian culture today. I’m just upset I forgot my camera!! Seriously great people watching today J