Wherever you come from in the world, celebrating New Year’s or St. Sylvester’s Feast Day in Italy is a huge deal and brings with it many traditions and significance. For example most New Year’s festivities will involve a lot of food & drink, performances and fireworks, but Italy has a few more traditions around this time of year that you may not have heard of!
Bonfires are quite common during New Year’s, but in Italy there is a tradition called ‘Rogo del Vecchione‘ meaning burning off the old one. Each year in the Piazza Maggiore in Bolgna people gather to watch the burning of an effigy; which is created by a different local artist each year. This burning symbolises burning away last year’s bad luck and welcoming the possibilities of new luck for the coming year. Such a wonderful positive tradition to be a part of looking forward to what is to come.
Another quirky tradition for the Italians is wearing red underwear! It is believed that by wearing the red coloured undergarments you will be protected from evil spirits. Therefore it is very common to see red undergarments hanging in shop windows and streets for New Year’s.
A traditional dish to cook and eat for New Year’s in Italy is Pork and Lentils. The lentils are round like coins and so are meant to represent wealth and bring prosperity for the coming new year and the pork is to symbolise the richness of life.
No matter the tradition, it is important to start a new year with positivity and excitement. Here at Diforti we are always looking ahead and there are new and exciting projects for us to face and share with everyone this coming year and we can’t wait for you to hear about them! Keep in the loop by following our social media accounts on @difortis and share with us how you have kick started your 2020!