Italy is the land of hot pizzas and gladiators, which produced great film makers and poets like Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci and Salvatore Quasimodo but a common man remember the film 'the godfather’ when he hears anything about Italy. The Coppola film explored the Italian’s sense of high pride and beautiful cultural elements in a most beautiful way. Italy is a land of bravery where roman gladiators fought and spilled their blood in Colosseum. Valentine’s Day was celebrated as a spring festival in Italy in the ancient times. They use to conduct the celebrations of Valentine’s Day in the open air. Young men and women would gather around trees or gardens and would enjoy listening to music and reading of poetry. Later they would walk on the garden with their beloved ones. This old custom of Valentine’s Day dropped over the course of years and has not been celebrated for centuries. Now, most of Italians follow the usual pattern of Valentine’s Day but with a little difference. Italian Couples still used to announce their engagement on the Valentine’s Day in the Italian city, Turin. Read on the article to know more about the Valentine’s Day in Italy.
Valentine’s Day Traditions In Italy
Valentine’s Day celebrations reached its peak in popularity during the middle Ages. Valentine’s Day is a day for Italian lovers to get engaged or simply get away for short break Italian shops get decorated several days ahead of February 14 with a huge variety of bon-bon chocolates. You can even get some china baskets and cups filled with Valentine’s Day candies. Italians usually have interesting tradition. They have this kind of tradition in Valentine’s Day too. Italian Parents wakes up unmarried girls before sunrise on this day. They strongly believe that the first man the girl sees in the morning, or somebody who looks like him would marry her within a year. Therefore, girls use to wake up early on the day and stand by their window to watch Mr. handsome who is going to be the man of her life.
Modern Celebration
In recent times, especially in the last decade, the traditions of Italian Valentine’s Day are changed a lot. Nowadays lover are keen to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Italy. The celebrations are largely commercialized as in any part of the world. Italians exchange flowers, perfumes, chocolate candies and diamonds as Valentine’s gifts as the expression of their love. In Italy, the function is exclusively limited to the lovers and unlike America, Italian families never indulges in giving gifts on Valentine’s Day. Couples go out for dinners at pizzeria or ristrorante on the day. Italy being the birth place of pizzas like spaghetti, Valentine’s Day also gets taste of these foods.
Italy has a popular Valentine’s gift known as Baci Perugina. Baci Perugina is a small chocolate covered hazelnut containing a tiny slip of paper with romantic poetic quotes in four languages. Exchanging love notes and flowers is a very common practice in Italy on valentine’ day. Tourist flies to hugely popular destinations in Italy such as Rome, Verona, and Venice on enjoy the cultural elegance of Italy on Valentine’s Day. As American culture influenced the world culture in a large extend, Italians also follows the rituals of giving gift baskets, love maps, heart shaped candies, soap flakes, flower bouquets and photo collages.
