8565 Italian Bank Holidays

just googled to try and identify the specific dates and came up with this interesting site giving details of all Feste - with English options.

Italian Holidays, Festivals ans Street Parties

[SIZE=-1]http://www.hostetler.net/[B]italia[/B].cfm [/SIZE]

Yes, but the problem with Italian bank holidays is that they don't move them. What is the point of having one on a Sunday when you have the day off already:madd:. I do like the idea of the ponte though as it seems to be more or less set in stone, that if you have a bank holiday on a Thursday, you can also take the Friday.

Mark

I think that the ponte also works when the festa falls on a Tuesday - Monday becomes part of the holiday.

[quote=Biagio;80333]
....
GMTV have decided that the 'contestants' for a day to be named after them are The British Forces, Diana, The Beatles and William Shakespeare. Whilst I have no problem with the idea or the 'contestants', I object to not at least including St George (who's day happens to be the same as W. Shakespeare's birthday and death)[/quote]

But St. George IS there (he played lead guitar in the fab 4).

Now that Liverpool is Euro city of culture, his Knighthood's in the bag & the sainthood will surely follow in due course :-)

Liverpool - Capital of culture! What a laugh that is.. they've dug up all the ruddy roads and moved everything around, no one can get anywhere.. or find anything if they do!

I agree - this is yet another example of the absence in Italy (love living here though I do) of what i call "[B]joined up thinking[/B]". I may start a thread on that later when I'm properly "fuelled".

Re the "ponte", it's not just a question of deciding to take a long weekend with a ponte. An Italian friend of ours who works for NATO has ponte days forced on him i.e. his employer makes him take ponte days from his holiday allowance - he says this is in recognition of the fact that so many workers would simply phone in sick!! So I wonder if the aggrieved workers then have a scheme whereby they bank these lost sick days and link them to a "sciopero" day (strike) which always seem to take place on a Friday. Not difficult to see how the locals are so relaxed!!!!

PS - what's the name of the day after Maunday Thursday?......... ...Tuesday Friday (sorry)

[url=http://www.olivopiegato.com]Tuscany Bed and Breakfast - L'Olivo Piegato, The Crooked Olive[/url]

[quote=Markcarter;80337]Yes, but the problem with Italian bank holidays is that they don't move them. What is the point of having one on a Sunday when you have the day off already:madd:. I do like the idea of the ponte though as it seems to be more or less set in stone, that if you have a bank holiday on a Thursday, you can also take the Friday.

Mark[/quote]

[quote=mungo;80344]Liverpool - Capital of culture! What a laugh that is.. they've dug up all the ruddy roads and moved everything around, no one can get anywhere.. or find anything if they do![/quote]

I sympathise ... my (then) girlfriend worked for Glasgow 1990, when we were somewhat bizzarely IMO awarded European city of culture.

So, I saw the program of "worthy" events as it was assembled, and I went to the big champagne launch bash at the city chambers ... but thereafter, all it really boiled down to for most real Glaswegians was a year long extension to the drinking hours and the sight of the odd (literally!) foreigner trying to negotiate the Gorbals in search of the Citizens theatre without getting mugged and/or stabbed by the local "culture vultures" :-)

Hope the Liverpool one is a success ... putting my cynicism to one side for a moment, Glasgow certainly IS much more 'cultural' now, so even if I don't attribute much of the change to 1990 ECOC, I guess it helped in general terms.

[quote=pigro;80347]no man is an island ... except for the Isle of Man[/quote]

I feel compelled to point out that the Isle of Wight is also an island of man.

Does anyone know if Good Friday is a bank holiday in Italy or not please?

[quote=Genhud;83556]Does anyone know if Good Friday is a bank holiday in Italy or not please?[/quote]

No its not - its supposed to be a normal working and school day.

Roads can be an absolute b*gger in the late afternoon/evening when everyone appears to be 'heading off' for Easter.

,

Thanks for that - confirms what I'd thought!

Here is a list of National Bank Holidays for 2008 in Italy

Jan 1 New Year's Day
Jan 6 Epiphany
Mar 23 Easter Sunday
Mar 24 Easter Monday
Apr 25 Liberation Day
May 1 Labour Day
Jun 2 Founding of the Republic
Aug 15 Assumption Day
Nov 1 All Saints Day
Dec 8 Immaculate Conception's day
Dec 25 Christmas Day
Dec 26 St. Stephen's Day

:smile:

Thankyou - very useful. Haven't been here a whole year yet so it's all new to us!

Someone out there may know better but it is not a bank holiday on the Italian calendar. Around here in Umbria it's a working day. In the late evening many Italians process to the Cemetry behind a huge crucifix supporting a model of Christ.