New Years Eve is also called as La Festa di San Silvestro and Capodanno in Italy. People in Italy are well known to have splendid celebrations on each of their significant occasions, and New Years Eve is one among them. People in Italy love their celebrations, and when New Years Eve arrives on December 31, the enthusiasm is at its peak.
Celebrations on New Years Eve in Italy
The most significant aspects of New Years Eve are the family and food, which are ensured to be fulfilled in the best possible way. In almost all parts of the country, people throw celebration parties on New Years Eve, with everyone from the circle of friends and extended families are invites, and then are treated with the special feast of the evening. Lentils are necessarily required to be on the menu list, as it symbolizes for wealth and prosperity in the beliefs of Italian people. Similarly, eating pork on New Years Eve is considered to confer one with sumptuous life in the coming year. Other than these two dishes, one usually finds a cotechino, a large spiced sausage, or a zampone, and stuffed pig’s trotter on the dinner table. As far as drinking goes, the Italian sparkling wine of spumante or prosecco is served to the visitors.
Fireworks, music, and dancing are another significant aspects associated with the celebrations on New Years Eve in Italy. With the arrival of the evening time, people move in clubs and pubs. With dancing being a popular expression of celebration, many towns set up a public music arrangement, where people from all nearby neighborhood gather, and dance in concord to the celebration tunes. The music shows organized in Rome, Milan, Palermo, Bologna, and Naples are the most sought after because of the sizzling pop and rock bands concerts they organize on New Years Eve, which some of them are live telecasted on television.
Fireworks and Other Celebrations
Some of the major towns put arrangements for setting off a fireworks show at the stroke of midnight. Most of these fireworks display ore organized in the city squares. People also burn firecrackers in their respective selves, which usually go on for a period longer than the community fireworks display. The biggest and the most spectacular fireworks show is organized in Naples. There is also a long old tradition of organizing community bonfires, which is followed in some parts of the country, especially in smaller towns. Farmers congregate around the assembled bonfire in the morning hours to have celebrations around it.
The traditional celebrations on New Years Eve can be witnessed at the St. Mark’s Square in Venice, and at Piazza del Popolo. Venice also hosts an early morning fun-filled swimming contest in Lido Beach, as a part of which one has to take a dip in the ice cold water. This event draws thousands and more to see some crazy minds pouring their half naked bodies in a literally ‘ice cold’ water.
Traditions on New Years Eve in Italy
There has also been a tradition of playing a game of ‘Tambola’, which is very much similar to a bingo game. All those present in the celebration party eagerly, participate in it. There is another tradition of throwing old things out of the window to denote for one’s willingness and pleasure in welcoming the New Year. There is another rather hilarious tradition of wearing red underwear or red clothes, which is believed to confer one with good luck in the coming year. There are also certain beliefs around the red underwear itself, with many believe it to be a gift from some other person, many others believe it to be just a new piece.