Ferragosto in Italy

Happy Ferragosto!

Today it’s a special holiday here in Italy, one of the most important for all Italians. It is important because it’s a period of rest and relaxation, Italians go on holidays and they spend this particular day with family and friends.

This festivity has very antique origins, it was created by Emperor Augustus in 18 a.C. in Rome to celebrate the end of the farm work and to honour the god of fertility and hearth, Conso. Originally the Romans started their celebrations the 1st of August, but in reality they stopped working for almost the entire month of August. 

Around the VII century, The Catholic church changed the holiday’s meaning and celebration to the Virgin Mary’s Assumption to Heaven and the day was changed from the 1st for the 15th of August. 

Today many Italians still look forward to Ferragosto, they spend the day at the sea usually or go on a one-week vacation to some other town in the country. I am going to spend this Ferragosto with my family and some friends of the family. 

Ferragosto is also notoriously regarded as the festivity that set the beginning of the end of the Summer. I know that this thought is correct for me. In fact, in the last five years it has been the last holiday I have spent with my family before going back to Canada for a new school year, and this year is no different. 

Image via WILDFOX. Check out the new lookbook collection on the website