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HOLIDAYS

‘Do the super bridge’: Why Italy is on its longest Easter holiday ever

Italy has just begun its longest spring break ever. Here's how you too can do the 'super ponte'.

Published: 18 April 2019 12:58 CEST
'Do the super bridge': Why Italy is on its longest Easter holiday ever
Taking a break in Bari. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Fare il ponte ('to do the bridge'), if you don't already know, is the practice of taking an extra day off when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday – or, if you're particularly audacious, a Wednesday – instead of next to a weekend, in order to create one continuous break.

And this April and May are full of opportunities to try it out. Thanks to a late Easter falling closer than usual to secular spring holidays, many Italians will be bundling up their free days off into a break of up to two weeks.

READ ALSO: The essential guide to an Italian Easter


Photo: Mario Laporta/AFP

School kids are the ones who stand to benefit most from the 'super bridge', as it's been dubbed: while Good Friday is surprisingly not a public holiday in Italy and workers are only granted Easter Sunday and Monday (Pasquetta, or 'little Easter') off, state schools typically close from Thursday to Tuesday over the holiday weekend. Most kids began their break today, April 18th.

They could go back to class on Wednesday 24th… but the next day, April 25th, is Italy's Liberation Day, a celebration of the end of the Nazi occupation during World War Two and a national holiday. And by then it's practically the next weekend, so what's the point?

READ ALSO: What is Italy's Liberation Day all about?

Ok, but the following week it must be back to the grindstone, right? Well… look what's coming up on Wednesday, May 1st: International Workers' Day. Like most countries in the EU, Italy gives everyone the day off.

Those who really commit to the 'super bridge', hailed by the Italian press as the longest ever, are therefore beginning 14 days of holiday from now until May 2nd. Employees taking leave can get two weeks for the price of one, since only seven of those days are supposed to be worked. 


Having fun in Rome. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

Not everyone will put their feet up, of course. Even aside from those who have to work, the Ministry of Education set some notably less generous term dates for state schools in the various regions of Italy, with unlucky pupils in Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio, Marche, Molise, Puglia and Sardinia advised to return to class on April 23rd.

Schools in Valle d'Aosta, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Umbria, Abruzzo, Campania, Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily are supposed to reopen on April 24th, while the lucky kids in Bolzano and Trento have been told not to go back until at least April 26th or 27th respectively.  

However, these dates remain advisory only: it's up to local authorities to decide exactly when each school opens and closes, so long as they fit in at least 200 teaching days throughout the year. Many institutions have announced they'll take one, two or even all three of the 'bridges' available.


Admiring the Boboli Gardens in Florence. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

Thousands of workers will be hoping to join them. According to hotel owners' association Federalberghi, more than 21 million Italians are planning to travel over Easter and/or the May Day weekend, with 87 percent of them choosing to stay in Italy. If you're heading anywhere in Italy over the next two weeks, be prepared for higher prices, longer lines and booked-out B'n'Bs.

Q&A: What you need to know about taking part in the European elections if you're in Italy

But the 'super bridge' isn't the only chance to take a break, for kids at least: those whose schools are used as polling stations can expect a couple of days off around May 26th for the European elections and, in nearly 4,000 municipalities, mayoral elections the same day (as well as potential mayoral run-offs on June 9th). Unions are also threatening a general strike on May 17th that would see schools across the country closed.

Most workers, though, will have to wait until August for their next free day off: Italy's early summer public holiday, Republic Day on June 2nd, this year falls on a Sunday. 

After that there are no freebies until August 15th, Assumption day or Ferragosto, which in 2019 is mercifully… a Thursday.

READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about Ferragosto

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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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