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EASTER

The essential guide to an Italian Easter

Easter in Italy means religion, but also friends, family, and food. And of course, it wouldn't be an Italian holiday without a healthy dose of curious, centuries-old customs. Here's The Local's guide to the Italian Easter traditions you need to know.

Published: 10 April 2017 16:53 CEST
Updated: 19 April 2019 09:00 CEST
The essential guide to an Italian Easter
A Good Friday parade in Procida, off Naples. Photo: Mario Laporta/AFP

Holy Week

The week before Easter Sunday, known as Holy Week, is particularly important in Sicily and Sardinia due to their historic associations with Spain. The Sardinian custom, Sa Chida Santa, borrows from Catalan traditions, with different rituals and processions for each day of the week.

Photo: osmar01/DepositPhotos

The Pope marks the Thursday of Holy Week – the night of the Last Supper – by washing the feet of others, as Jesus did with his disciples. In previous years Pope Francis has washed the feet of young offenders, refugees and former mafiosi; this year he'll be washing inmates' feet at a prison in Rome. 

For most Italians, though, you'll find the celebrations don't get going until Easter weekend itself.

Good Friday

The first thing to know about Good Friday in Italy is that it's not a public holiday in Italy – sorry. It's a day of mourning, marking Jesus's death, rather than of celebration.

For that reason, there aren't holy masses held, but instead parishes celebrate the Via Crucis or Stations of the Cross, or hold a solemn liturgy. Keep an eye out for the crosses in the church, which will likely be covered in dark-coloured cloth.

IN PICTURES: Easter celebrations and festivals across Italy


Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

In Rome, Pope Francis will say a mass at the Vatican on Friday afternoon before leading the Stations of the Cross procession from the Colosseum amphitheatre to the Palatine Hill, accompanied by a huge cross covered in burning torches. The multilingual event is typically attended by tens of thousands of Romans and tourists alike.

Processions

Elsewhere in Italy, the Via Crucis is celebrated with processions and parades on Friday and Saturday. Those taking part may wear costumes, carry torches, crosses or statues of saints, act out Biblical scenes along the way, or even flagellate themselves as penance.

Chieti in Abruzzo boasts one of the oldest parades, dating back to at least 840 AD.

Photo: BigDreamStudio/DepositPhotos

In Sicily, 2,000 friars join the procession through the streets of Enna, one of the largest in the country. And if you've got the stamina, try the 24-hour parade in Trapani, where floats depicting biblical scenes pass through the town's streets.

Passion plays

While some towns hold processions to recall Christ's suffering, others go a step further and act out important events from the Easter story, including his trial and death. Participants usually dress in historic costumes, and the staging will vary from the very simply to the dramatic and elaborate, depending where you are.


Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

“Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi”

Here's a saying you're sure to hear over the Easter period, literally translating as: “Christmas with your relatives, Easter with whoever you want”. Breathe a sigh of relief if you weren't feeling up to another holiday with your in-laws: most Italians spend the Easter holidays, particularly the Monday, celebrating with friends, while family obligations are kept to a minimum.

Engagements

Easter eggs, whether chocolate or ornamental, often come with a small gift inside them in Italy. In recent years, placing a ring inside the egg has become a popular way for Italians to pop the question to their partner – so don't be surprised if a few of your Italian friends get engaged over the holiday weekend.

Photo: teodorova/DepositPhotos

Pasquetta

Easter Monday is known as Pasquetta in Italy, literally 'little Easter', and as it's a public holiday, it's typical for Italians to take a day trip to the countryside and enjoy the spring weather. The other name for Easter Monday is Lunedi dell'Agnello or 'Lamb Monday', which gives a clue to the other highlight of the day: the lunch.

READ MORE: Italian Easter foods you have to try at least once


Photo: masolino/Flickr

A version of this article was first published in 2017.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Traffic jams and sold-out trains: the latest on Easter travel in Sweden

Easter is probably the busiest time of the year for travel within Sweden. Here's the latest on how to travel safely and where you might face delayed trains or ugly traffic jams.

Published: 7 April 2022 16:30 CEST
Updated: 14 April 2022 13:54 CEST
Traffic jams and sold-out trains: the latest on Easter travel in Sweden

Travelling by rail

If you haven’t already booked your ticket, you may find it difficult to get a seat on some popular routes. 

“Some routes are already fully booked. This is particularly the case between the major cities,” Anders Edgren, a press officer for the national train company SJ, told state broadcaster SVT.

A screenshot of SJ’s booking site for Good Friday shows most morning trains between Malmö and Stockholm are already sold out.
 
Edgren said on Thursday morning that there were still a few seats left between Stockholm and Gothenburg and Stockholm and Sundsvall but that they were selling out fast. 
 
 
“What we’re trying to do is to double-up trains, which is to stick together two trains, and if we manage to do that we might be able to release some more tickets.” 

Sweden’s national rail company SJ often schedules engineering work for national holidays, as fewer people are travelling to work, and this easter there will be engineering work at around 20 sites across the country, meaning more than 1,000 trains will be partly or totally replaced with buses during the Easter break. 

The worst areas are on the routes between Gothenburg and Malmö, between Västerås and Stockholm, and between Karlstad and Växjö. Work on the new Västkustbanan will mean replacement buses between Helsingborg and Gothenburg throughout the Easter holidays. 

SJ has made a map showing all the routes where you can expect interruptions: 

Traffic interruptions over Easter: 

Karlstad C to Kristinehamn: 10pm April 14th to 5am April 19th 

Gothenburg going north and south: 10.35pm April 14th to 2pm April 18th

Varberg to Heberg: 2pm April 14th to 2pm April 19th 14

Ängelholm Helsingborg: 12am April 4th to April 25th 4.15am 

Frövi to Kumla: 10pm April 14th to 5am April 19th 

Skymossen to Motala: 12am April 14th to 5am April 19th

Stockholm Central platforms 3 to 7: 10pm April 14th to 10pm April 21st 

Huvudsta – Barkarby: 1.10am April 14th to 4.30am April 19th 

Travelling by car 

In its guide to travelling by car over Easter, the Swedish Transport Agency warns that weather conditions at this time of year can vary enormously as you drive north.  You may find, for instance, that you need winter snow tyres by the time you reach your destination, even seemed almost summery when you set out. You should also make sure you have clothing for all seasons. 

Here is the agency’s maps of roads which it expects to see heavy Easter traffic. 

A map showing which roads are expected to be busy over the Easter period. Photo: Swedish Transport Agency
These include: 

The E22 between Kalmar and Norrköping, the E4 between Norrköping and Stockholm, and then from Stockholm all the way up to Sundsvall.  The roads leading towards the ski areas around Sälen and Östersund also tend to get crowded. None of the roads in Skåne are expected to see heavy traffic. 

The Swedish Transport Agency has imposed a ban on overtaking on the E4 between Gävle och Tönnebro, on the 14th and 14th of April for travel in a northerly direction, and on the 17th and 18th of April travelling south. 

The agency also recommends choosing roads with central reservations and speed cameras, as these are safer, even if this might mean a slower journey. Here is the agency’s map of roads with central reservations.

Flights

If you’re coming to Sweden by air, you should be aware that companies have been cancelling a high number of flights in recent days, because many of their staff have Covid.

EasyJet and British Airways cancelled more than 80 scheduled flights on Thursday, blaming staff sickness. 

Airports

If your flight is running as scheduled, be aware of issues at several UK airports.

Airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham have been hit by disruption because of staff shortages caused by Covid, affecting everything from airport security to luggage handlers. Passengers risked missing their flights because of lengthy delays, according to reports in the UK press. 

Passport queues at Heathrow Terminal 2, from where SAS flies to Stockholm, were ‘stretching to 90 minutes’ on Maundy Thursday, The Independent reported. 

Passengers have been advised to make sure they are at the airport as early as possible to allow for delays, and unions have warned that the disruption could last for some time.

In the case of Manchester, the advice last week was to arrive three hours early.

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