Traditions

/Tag:Traditions

CALL IT BY ITS NAME: “MANTOVA” OR “MANTUA”?

2018-02-20T11:51:46+00:00 February 20th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , |

Dozens of stories go around about that couple of foreign visitors lost in Firenze, desperately looking for “Florence”. It’s an old joke, known in many different variants: sometimes they are in Venezia, looking for “Venice” or in Napoli, searching “Naples”. [...]

“TORTA DI SAN BIAGIO”

2018-01-26T10:06:27+00:00 January 30th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

On the hills of the northern province of Mantua, at a stone's throw from Lake Garda, there is a little village named Cavriana (literally "Goat-ville"). And, as in Italy every place has its own traditional recipe, also this little village has its own special cake, named after the local patron Saint: the "Torta di San Biagio" (Cake of Saint Blaise). [...]

Santa Lucia is coming to town! (And Mantuan kids get Christmas gifts in advance)

2017-12-05T14:30:27+00:00 December 6th, 2017|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

In Italy, Santa Claus (i.e. “Babbo Natale”, literally 'Father Christmas') is not the only Christmas gift-giver: in many Italian towns, kids have their presents and goodies delivered by other legendary beings, who visit different areas of Italy on different occasions. In the area of Mantua (and in Brescia, Bergamo, Verona, Parma and Modena as [...]