Italian Culture Traditions
The Summer Solstice, San Giovanni Night and Italian Culture Customs
Italian culture traditions are still alive during San Giovanni night. Italian people culture celebrates the summer solstice with pagan and christian traditions.
The night between the 21st and 22nd of June marks the summer solstice and it is still celebrated in the Italian people culture. The advent of Christianity turned the pagan rites of this magic night into the more domesticated Italian culture customs of the San Giovanni celebration that falls the 24th of June. Nevertheless, especially in the country, where people are closer to nature rhythm, la notte di San Giovanni, is still considered magic and celebrated with rites of water and fire that can be traced back to pre-christian times. During this night bonfires are lighted to burn the herbs collected the previous year and fresh plants are gathered. It is the right moment to pick the medicinal plant hypericum or St. John's Wort (called in Italian erba di San Giovanni). It is considered of good luck to jump over a fire and wash the face and hands in the night dew as mean of cleansing and purification before the start of a new solar year. The church turned these ancient rites into the celebration of Saint John’s birth, exactly six month apart from the birth of Jesus, during the winter solstice.
The focus of the festival is the Palio di San Giovanni, a competition between the best blacksmiths, each one representing a neighborhood of the town, to win an artistically painted banner. Unique among the Italian culture traditions is the infiorata. During this festival, various groups, prepare an elaborate design completely made with flower petals and herbs. The result are colorful and stunning pictures.
We went to Fabriano to see the infiorate. They turned out to be huge pictures of religious inspiration displayed on the church floors. Looking closely at them we realized they were all made of crushed flower petals and herbs. On a small table nearby were shown the materials used for the picture. This technique comes from old Italian culture traditions and each borough of the city proudly displays an infiorata in its own church.The event includes also historical parades with beautifully detailed costumes, and the exhibition of sbandieratori, or flag wavers that skillfully throw brightly colored banners. We looked at the historical parade and when the people in costumes dispersed in the alleys and mingled with the crowd, we continued to the main square. It was a magnificent sight: the flashy standards were swinging in the evening breeze and the square looked straight out of medieval times. In the video below you can see and exhibition of a group of sbandieratori in the Fabriano main square.
More to see in Fabriano: Museo della Carta This town has an ancient tradition of paper mills, find out about the history and making of paper at the museum. La Grotta Grande del Vento (Great Cave of the Wind) was discovered by a local group of speleologist in the seventies. It part of a huge complex of tunnels and caves that is now open to the public and definitely worth a visit. Close to the Frasassi Caves is this Spa complex, it offers aesthetic treatments as well as cures for various pathologies. Go from Italian Culture Traditions to Le-Marche-Travel-Guide Homepage
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Fabriano, a lovely medieval city of Le Marche region, celebrates lavishly San Giovanni with a nine days event.
