7 Italian Easter Traditions You Need To Know About

This italian easter traditions in italy post was first published on April 2nd, 2023.

Easter is the second most important holiday in Italy just after Christmas. It’s a great time that combines religious traditions and big family gatherings and feasting. And as with every holiday and cuisine, italian traditions differ across italy. Although every region has their traditions, most of them stem from the same idea. Like for example reenactments and religious processions or Easter Sunday meals.

Easter in italy is known as Pasqua and Easter Monday, which is considered a holiday too, is known as Pasquetta. This holiday is the perfect time to visit Italy and discover even more about Italian culture. In this post, you will discover some of the most peculiar Italian Easter traditions and yet another reason to visit the Bel Paese.

To me, Easter has always been a time for family gatherings and one I had always enjoyed. As I already mentioned before, this holiday was not centred on religion for our family as we never really practised, but it was an excuse to visit family that lived far from us.

I had the best memories of Easter eggs and big Easter Sunday spreads that I hope everyone can experience, full of food and sweets. The marzipan Easter lamb that our grandpa in Sicily used to get us or the cuddura that our grandma in Sicily used to bake for all the grandchildren, are still treasured memories even years after. In the meantime, I will walk down memory lane with some of these traditions.

Let’s check out these 7 peculiar Italian Easter traditions:

1 Big Easter Sunday Lunch

Sunday lunch is important in Italian culture as in many others. When it comes to the holidays, it takes even more meaning here. During Easter time, Sunday lunch is a time for big family gatherings, usually held after attending mass for those who practice. What you will find on the Easter spread can vary between regions. But you can always find staples like sweet easter bread and Colomba.

Sunday lunch in some regions of Central Italy can be counted both as a breakfast and lunch put together, where participants will have both sweet and savoury food, without forgetting the unmissable eggs in any form, from omelettes to boiled eggs.

2 Easter Food

As you might have realised from the point above, between the Italian Easter traditions, a lot of the festivities revolve around food, and who could blame them? During this time, as it signals the end of Lent for Christians, families indulge in dishes of lamb, which symbolizes the sacrifice of Christ and was in the past a special dish only cooked during holidays, eggs which symbolize renewal – also taking the meaning of the arrival of spring – and special sweet bread like Colomba or cuddura and any other traditional Easter desserts.

Worth mentioning between the many regional Easter foods are the typical pastiera napaoletana (easter pie made with cooked wheat) and casatiello in Naples or pizza di Pasqua in central Italy. Torta Pasqualina, a popular Easter dessert from Liguria, Scarcella – an Easter cake popular in Puglia and Fiadoni, Easter pastries typical of the Abruzzo region, only to mention a few.

3 Dye & Decorations Of Eggs

Eggs are considered a symbol of rebirth and fertility in many cultures as well as in Italy. During Easter celebrations, it’s tradition to dye eggs in bright colours – all-natural dyes that used to come from flowers and herbs – with the whole family, to then have them during Easter lunch.

Although dyed eggs are more popular traditions, even decorated eggs are quite widespread. Also, dyed eggs were given as a gift in the past to celebrate the end of Lent and have still nowadays the same meaning.

4 Easter Eggs & Chocolate

Another popular Italian Easter tradition food and probably one that is quite diffused around the world is gifting chocolate eggs and sweets for this holiday. You will find very popular brands of chocolate making chocolate eggs for Easter, usually a hollow chocolate egg with a toy surprise for kids, as well as intricately decorated ones and filled chocolate eggs.

Supermarkets and delis are full to the brim with different chocolate eggs and the amount of choice will spoil you and this is one of my favourite italian easter egg tradition! You can find artisanal ones with ornaments and fine chocolate decorations that are too beautiful to eat.

But not only it’s tradition to gift chocolate eggs. There are plenty of festivals revolving around Easter eggs and their making throughout Italy. Fun fact, in some parts of Italy, it’s also tradition to give cheese or salami during Easter time instead of eggs.

5 Religious Processions & Reenactments

Between the many Italian Easter traditions, religious processions and reenactments are widespread in the whole country. Depending on the region, you will find different ways that the population celebrates Easter, beginning from the week leading to Easter, the Holy Week, on the day itself and Easter Monday.

To celebrate the resurrection of Christ, many churches hold special services and reenactments that begin on Holy Thursday and end on Easter Sunday, mostly held in squares. This is a list of some of the more important or peculiar ones to check out:

• in Florence, Tuscany – there’s the famous Scoppio del Carro, or “Explosion of the Cart,” in which a cart is filled with fireworks and set off by a mechanical dove-shaped rocket that is fired from the altar inside the cathedral, symbolizing the resurrection of Christ. The cart is pulled by white oxen adorned with flowers and greenery, and it is paraded through the streets of Florence;
• in Rome, Lazio – the biggest Via Crucis is held by the Colosseum, a reenactment of Jesus’ last living hours, where the pope participates too;
• in Rome Lazio – the famous ‘Palm Sunday’ mass is held by the Pope in Saint Peter’s Basilica, which attracts people from the whole world;
• in Procida, Campania – on Holy Thursday a procession is held of the 12 hooded apostles;
• in Noicattaro, Puglia – in southern italy on Holy Thursday a fire is held in front of ‘Madonna della Lama’ Church to show devotion;
• in Palermo, Sicily- on Easter Sunday there’s a ‘Ballo dei Diavoli Prizzi’ a reenactment of the battle between devil and death trying to stop the procession, which will then be defeated by angels;
• in Adrano, Sicily – on Easter Sunday there’s a reenactment of the ‘ Diavolazzi ‘i Pasqua’, a representation from the 1700s about the triumph of good on evil (This is the village where my dad is from and I have lived for a while);
• in Trapani, Sicily – takes place the “Misteri,” a procession of 20 large wooden statues depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ. It has been held for the last 400 years and lasts 24 hours;
• in Mercatello sul Metauro, March – takes place a peculiar recession with a life-like statute of Christ, with fully articulated joints that are covered in a leather skin;
• in Sulmona, Abruzzo – takes place the ‘Runaway Virgin’ starring Mary, Peter and John. When John announces the resurrection of Jesus to Mary and she runs back home;
• in Bormio – takes place the parade of allegorical floats known as the ‘Pasquali’, which are bought by young people and adorned with moss and flowers.

6 Easter Monday Celebrations

Easter Monday or better known as ‘Pasquetta’ is a national holiday in Italy. easter monday is all centred on the ‘scampagnata’, which means spending time outdoors, whether you are hiking, having a picnic, barbequing or just going to the beach.

It’s a day to spend with friends and in large groups, to enjoy together the last day of festivities and feasting. Depending on where you find yourself, you could taste a slice of pizza rustica, a slice of torta Pasqualina, cheese, boiled eggs or a tray bake.

As the proverb goes ‘Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi’, which translates to Christmas with family and Easter with who you like, usually friends.

7 Festivals & games

If you are still looking for more italian easter celebrations, you can’t miss the many festivals and games that are held during the week leading to Easter, on Easter Day and on Easter Monday. As much as with food, games differ from region to region, but most of them have eggs as main characters during Easter. These are some of the more peculiar ones to watch out for:

• in Cividale, Friuli – on Easter day and Easter Monday, the ‘game of Trcu’ takes place, where participants have to slide cooked eggs along a sloping sand basin trying to make them touch each other. Who hits the opponent’s egg wins;
• Umbria – there is the “La Corsa all’Uovo,” where people race with eggs on spoons to celebrate the resurrection of Christ;
• in Urbania, Marche region – the “Punta e cul game” takes place on Easter morning and the following days, in which the old and young challenge each other by beating their egg against the opponents from the tip and the from the bottom, trying to keep them safe;
• in Tredozio – the ‘Palio dell’uovo’ takes place in which participants try to break each other’s eggshells to win;
• in Courmayeur, Valle D’Aosta takes place ‘ La Paquerette’ a craftmanship festival that showcases wood sculptures, wood carving, wrought iron, leather working and drap weaving; (Eataly)

We are at the end of this Italian Easter traditions post! Hope you have found something interesting to check out while spending this holiday in Italy. Or that it will make you plan some time in Italy to discover more of it and its culture. And maybe you found some similar Easter traditions to yours too!

If you liked this post on Italian Easter traditions, check these posts too:

• 10+ Italian foods that don’t exist in Italy
• delicious gnocco fritto – fried dough
• torta paradiso
• best tiramisu in a glass
• delicious frittelle di Carnevale

Did you know any of these Italian Easter traditions? Are any of these similar to where you come from or live? What is one of the most peculiar easter traditions you have? Let me know in the comments!

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