Religious Holidays in Italy

It’s estimated that more than 85 percent of Italians are Catholics and, while only a small proportion attend Mass regularly, Catholicism still plays a major role in Italian rituals.

Religious tourism has always been a significant lure in this Catholic heartland, whether linked to pilgrimages to the Vatican or to religious festivals. The greatest and most famous of the Romanbasilicas is St. Peter’s, crowned by its immense dome designed by Michelangelo. Visible all over the city, it towers over the grandiose, elliptical Piazza San Pietro, lined with Bernini colonnades in this piazza that is always packed with pilgrims.

At Easter the ‘Eternal City’ is never more at ease with its Roman and Christian heritage, from St Peter’s to the Scala Santa, the marble staircase that Christ supposedly ascended to meet Pontius Pilate. In San Giovanni in Laterano the faithful still dutifully climb to the top on their knees. On Good Friday, the Pope retraces Christ’s Via Crucis (stations of the Cross) in a moving candle-lit procession, ending in a huge open-air Mass on St Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.

Throughout the country there has been a more inclusive approach of late, with monastic retreats also opened to non-believers, from nature-lovers to hikers and botanists. UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as Piedmont’s Sacri Monti (Holy Mounts) have been restored without tarnishing their wild and mystical settings. Many operators tailor-make itineraries where, even without a religious vocation, visitors find that luxurious inns, gourmet cuisine and invigorating mountain walks will raise the spirits.

Italy is a country of festivals — some pagan in origin, some celebrating the changing seasons and local produce — others linked to the Catholic church. The Festa del Redentore (Redeemer) is one of the Venetians‘ most treasured festivities. It falls on the third Sunday in July, when Holy Mass is held in the presence of the Patriarch, followed by a religious procession. The Redentore church was built in gratitude for deliverance from the Plague in 1567 and a highlight of the festival is the magnificent firework display at the lagoon in front of Saint Mark’s Square on the Saturday night.

The world’s second most visited Catholic shrine is in the mountains of theGargano Peninsula in Puglia. Second only to the Vatican and currently eclipsing Lourdes, the Shrine of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, exhibits the saint’s remains in a glass-sided coffin. Padre Pio came to this Capuchin monastery in 1962, till his death in 1968. A devout Catholic, he was known for his care of the sick and supernatural powers and declared a saint in 2002. In April 2008, his body was exhumed and is on display in Santa Maria delle Grazie sanctuary till September 2009.