Welcome the New Year with an invigorating dip in the freezing waters along Venice's Lido Beach...or at least join more than 2000 onlookers while you watch others splashing their way into the New Year from 11 am - 1:30 pm on New Year's Day. The day starts with a Viennese waltz, and concludes with a hearty, warming meal of wine, ...
Enjoying a gondola ride through the Venice canals is quite the experience, but have you ever wanted to commandeer one yourself? Treat yourself with a rowing lesson with Row Venice called vogata di sera. During the lesson you can learn the Venetian style of rowing — standing up and facing forward. Dream of Italy is a membership website and award-winning ...
In a city that holds hundreds of regatta races throughout the year, this one stands out, as it features 50 men dressed as La Befana (the Epiphany witch). The rowers paddle up the Grand Canal and toward the Rialto Bridge, competing to be the first to reach a giant stocking that hangs from the bridge. Dream of Italy is a ...
Every year on the Epiphany, Italian motorcyclists gather for La Befana Benifica, a motorcycle procession for charity led by La Befana, the Epiphany witch. Beginning at the Duomo, motorcyclists hear a speech from the mayor and are blessed by the Bishop of Milan. The procession then continues to deliver items like food and gifts to charity centers, shelters and retirement ...
On the 6th of January in Florence, just days before the Epiphany, many gather to watch La cavalcata dei Re Magi, Arrival of the Magi. Watch the Wise Men and their cavalcade as they make their way from Palazzo Pitti to Piazza Duomo where they greet a harmonious Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Dream of Italy is a membership website and award-winning travel ...
Each year in Rome, hundreds of people in medieval costumes walk along the avenue leading up to the Vatican carrying gifts for the Pope, who will then say a morning mass in Saint Peters. Dream of Italy is a membership website and award-winning travel publication publishing 170 issues since 2002. Get a free issue to see what we are all ...
Novoli, a small town near Lecce, honors the town's patron, Sant'Antonio Abate, on the eve of his feast day January 17. The origin of the fire ritual is said to date back at least 1,000 years and is credited to monks from the east who settled in Novoli. The fòcara is a bonfire constructed of olive branches and grape vines ...
On April 25, 1945, Italy was liberated from the grip of Mussolini and the German-Fascist regime. The country celebrates this historic day with parades, ceremonies, and speeches. Rome, as the capital, enjoys the biggest celebrations, including a visit by the President to the Ardeatine Caves Mausoleum, where the Nazis massacred 335 Romans in 1944. Dream of Italy is a membership ...
One of Italy's oldest and weirdest traditions, Corso dei Ceri, or "Running of the Candles," takes place once a year on May 15th in the picturesque Umbrian town of Gubbio. Three "candles" (actually 30 foot-high wooden pillars) crowned with statues of saints are paraded around the town by "ceraiuoli" and then run up the streets of Gubbio to the Basilica of ...
The annual Biennale Art Festival takes over Venice this summer and fall, when countries from around the world set up pavilions to show off their home-grown contemporary artists. The venerable festival is a parade of avant garde visual art: a major destination for the art elite and the cognoscenti. The event runs daily from May to November, though it is ...
