Top 3 Festivals To See When In Italy

Italy is a culture rich country that has a colorful history. Since they are a catholic country, they also have lots of festivals on their calendar. However, other than religious festivals they also have modern day festivals that are very interesting to see. So if you’ll be visiting Italy, here are the top three festivals that you shouldn’t miss!

Have Fun In The Carnevale!

Carnevale, or Carnival, which is also known as Mardi Gras, is a yearly festival celebrated in Italy along with other places in the world. It is held 40 days before Easter Sunday, one last party before Ash Wednesday and Lenten season.

In Italy it’s a big winter festival that is celebrated with masquerade balls, parades, music, entertainment, and parties. Even children join the party by throwing confetti at each other. However, a lot of pranks and mischief also happen here, thus the line “A Carnevale Ogni Scherzo Vale”, which means “anything goes at carnival”.

This occasion has roots coming from pagan traditions and festivals and as is usually the case in which a traditional festival is adapted to fit into Catholic rituals. Even though it is held only in one day, some parts of Italy such as Venice, begin the Carnevale and parties even a couple of weeks before the real date.

In this festival it’s important that you have masks or maschere. If you want a really good mask, then Venice would be the city you should go to since it’s considered to be the best in making traditional masks. In fact, such masks are sold year round in Venice. You can browse shops and for sure they can offer you with a wide variety of masks ranging from cheap ones to elaborately made one that cost a fortune.

Venice Film Festival

The Italian Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia or Venice Film Festival is considered to be the oldest film festival around the world. It was founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata back in 1932 and was known to be as “Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica”. It took place during late August or early days of September and still continues to do so today.

It’s held in Venice’s Lido Island and film screenings are done in the historic Palazzo del Cinema to be found in Lungomare Marconi. The Venice Film Festival is considered to be one of the most celebrated film festivals around the world and comes with the Venice Biennale, which is another major festival for contemporary art and biennial exhibition.

The principal awards in the festival are the Leone d’Oro or Golden Lion, which goes to the best film; the Coppa Volpi or the Volpi Cup, which goes to the best actor and best actress. It was just this 2002, that the San Marco Award was introduced. It goes to the best film under the Controcorrente or Against the Stream section of the genres.

You could experience all the festival has to offer while living it up with big name movie stars and directors by renting an apartment in Venice during the festival.

Eurochocolate Festival

If you have a sweet tooth, then going to the Eurochocolate Festival would be heaven for you. This festival is held yearly year in Perugia, Italy. If you know Baci, which is the Italian response to Hershey’s Kisses, it’s interesting to know that it’s made by Perugina, which is a company in Perugia. For one week, every year, Perugia is transformed into “La citta del cioccolato” or The City Of Chocolates. You can find a lot of chocolate sculptures, chocolate face painting, chocolate games, and of course chocolates for sale!