April Fools' Day - Italian style

What lies behind the tradition of Pesce d'Aprile?

The April 1 tradition in Italy is to stick
a cut-out fish on someone's back

Playing practical jokes on April 1 is a tradition in Italy in the same way as many other countries, although in Italy the day is called Pesce d’Aprile – April’s Fish – rather than April Fools’ Day.

It is said to have became popular in Italy between 1860 and 1880, especially in Genoa, where families in the wealthier social circles embraced the idea, already popular in France, of marking the day by playing tricks on one another.

The most simple trick involves sticking a cut-out picture of a fish on the back of an unsuspecting ‘victim’ and watching how long it takes for him or her to discover he had been pranked but over the years there have been many much more elaborate tricks played.

Often these have involved spoof announcements or false stories in the newspapers or on TV or radio shows, aimed at embarrassing large numbers of gullible readers, viewers or listeners.

One of the first such large-scale hoaxes took place in 1878, when the newspaper Gazzetta d’Italia announced the cremation of an Indian Maharaja was to take place in Florence, attracting a large crowd to Parco delle Cascine where a pyre had been built in preparation for a traditional Hindu funeral.  At the moment the hearse was due to arrive, groups of youngsters dressed as fishermen emerged from bushes and ran around the crowd shouting ‘Pesce d’Aprile’.

A Milan newspaper ran a hoax story
about horses needing tail lights

Another involved a spoof story that horses had to be equipped with tail lights, run by the Milan newspaper Le Notte in 1961, which prompted many Milanese to take their animals to garages for the lights to be fitted, only to be told by amused mechanics that they had been fooled.

And in 1993, posters appeared on the streets of Milan and Turin announcing a new road tax to be paid according to the bodyweight of citizens. Again a newspaper was behind the joke.

The oldest recorded mass deception is said to have taken place in Bologna in the 13^th century when the academic Buoncompagno claimed to have invented a flying machine which he promised to demonstrate on April 1 by making a flight across the city.  Most of the city’s population gathered to witness this phenomenon, but of course it never took place.

The origins of the tradition have been the subject of numerous theories.  Some link it to the Roman festival of Hilaria, which celebrated the coming of spring and ran until roughly April 1. Games and amusements took place, including masquerades, when people would don disguises meant to trick friends into believing they were someone else.

Others suggest it relates to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, which moved a traditional New Year celebration of exchanging gifts from April 1 to January 1. In those days, of course, communications were somewhat slower and less reliable than today and many people continued to give presents on April 1. The story goes that those in the know would denounce those ignorant of the change as ‘April fools’ and make their point by handing over not a gift but an empty box.

The Roman general Mark Antony was said
to have been the victim of Cleopatra's prank

Likewise, there are many possible explanations for how the Italians (and the French) link the day to fish.

Some say it is linked to the astrological sign Pisces, the time period for which ends on March 20, others that the origin is in a prank played by Cleopatra on her Roman lover, Mark Antony, on an April 1 fishing trip.

The story goes that, so as to create the impression that he was an expert fisherman, Mark Antony instructed his slaves to dive beneath their boat and attach fish to the end of his line, making it appear he had landed a large catch.  But Cleopatra rumbled his deception. She challenged him to return to the same spot the following day to prove it was no fluke, but only after first instructing the slaves to attach a dead fish to his line, much to Mark Antony’s puzzlement and her amusement.

Another explanation is that the fish connection goes back to the Blessed Bernard of San Genesio, Patriarch of Aquileia in the 14^th century, who saved the life of Pope Clement VI after he choked on a herring bone on April 1.

In southern Italy, the word for dried cod fish – baccalà – is sometimes used in slang to describe a fool or an idiot, and supposedly used to be aimed in particular at fishermen who took to the sea in early April and returned to harbour empty-handed, not realising that it was too soon in the season for the fish to have arrived in the shallow waters offshore.

Small boats amount to three quarters of Italy's fishing fleet

Travel tip:

Italians consume more fish per capita than most Europeans, which means that, though in decline, the fishing industry remains an important part of the country's economy. The size of the total catch landed in Italian waters has dropped by more than 40 per cent in the last decade yet still added up to 191,700 tonnes in 2015. Of the national fleet of more than 12,000 fishing vessels, almost three quarters are small boats used to fish the waters close to the shore. Fishing takes place almost everywhere along Italy's 9,136km (5,677 miles) of coastline. The boats in the picture are on the island of Stromboli, off the north coast of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Travel tip:

The Parco delle Cascine (Cascine Park) is a monumental and historical park in the city of Florence, covering an area of 160 hectares (395 acres) in a long and narrow strip along the north bank of the Arno river, extending from the centre of Florence in a westerly direction until the point where the Mugnone river flows into the Arno. It was built originally as a farming and hunting estate for the city's ruling Medici family in the 16th century. 


More reading:

How Italy celebrates Christmas

Capodanno - the Italian New Year


Also on this day:

1946: The birth of football manager Arrigo Sacchi



(Picture credit: fishing boats by NorbertNagel via Wikimedia Commons)

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Saint Anthony of Padua

Pilgrims honour the saint famous for his miracles

The Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padua

The feast of Saint Anthony of Padua (Sant’Antonio da Padova) will be celebrated  by thousands of pilgrims visiting the northern Italian city today.

Special services will be held in the Basilica di Sant’Antonio and a statue of the saint will be carried through the streets of Padua.

Over the next few days pilgrims from all over the world will visit the Basilica, to see the saint’s tomb and relics.

Anthony was born in Portugal where he became a Catholic priest and a friar of the Franciscan order. He died on 13 June, 1231 in Padova and was declared a saint by the Vatican a year after his death, which is considered a remarkably short space of time.

Anthony is one of the most loved of all the saints and his name is regularly invoked by Italians to help them recover lost items.

It is estimated that about five million pilgrims visit the Basilica every year in order to file past and touch the tomb of the Franciscan monk, who became famous for his miracles, particularly relating to lost people or things.

The magnificent basilica in Piazza del Santo is an architectural masterpiece created between the 13th and 14th centuries, but it was later enriched with works of art by masters such as Titian, Tiepolo and the sculptor Donatello.

Saint Anthony’s Basilica is an imposing sight in Padova’s skyline even from a distance as it has seven domes around a cupola, two campanili (towers) and tapering spires like the minarets of a mosque.

Inside, the church is in the plan of a Latin cross with a nave and aisles in the gothic tradition. The Saint’s body lies in a marble tomb in the area known as the Chapel of the Tomb in the left transept.

The walls around the tomb are decorated with large 16th century marble reliefs that depict scenes from Saint Anthony’s life. These are overshadowed by the impressive amount of offerings and photographs on display from people wishing to give thanks after surviving car crashes or serious illnesses thanks to what they believe was the intervention of Sant’Antonio.

In a separate chapel, visitors can see relics of Saint Anthony and other important objects, such as a tunic believed to have been worn by the saint.

The Scrovegni Chapel is home to magnificent
frescoes by Giotto

Travel tip:

Padova in the Veneto is also one of the most important centres for art in Italy and home to the country’s second oldest university. Padova has become acknowledged as the birthplace of modern art because it is home to the Scrovegni Chapel, the inside of which is covered with frescoes by Giotto, a genius who was the first to paint people with realistic facial expressions showing emotion. His scenes depicting the lives of Mary and Joseph, painted between 1303 and 1305, are acknowledged as his greatest achievement and are one of the world’s most important works of art. At Palazzo Bò, Padova’s university founded in 1222, you can still see the original lectern used by Galileo and the world’s first anatomy theatre, where dissections were secretly carried out from 1594.

Travel tip:

The enormous Basilica di Sant’Antonio da Padova, or Basilica del Santo as it is known to local people, is one of the most important places of Christian worship in the world. To reach it from the railway station in Piazzale Stazione, take the tram and get off at the stop called simply, Santo. Buses also run between the station and the Basilica. If you are on foot, walk down Corso del Popolo, Corso Garibaldi, Via Eremitani, Via Zabarella and Via del Santo. The Basilica is open from 06.20 to 19.00 in the winter and 06.20 to 19.45 in the summer. Admission is free.

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Natale – Christmas Day

Celebrating Christmas the Italian way

 

Christmas Day in Italy is very much a family feast just as in other parts of the world.

After la Vigilia di Natale (Christmas Eve), when traditionally a fish meal is consumed and the adults go to midnight mass, Natale (Christmas Day) is a time for feasting.

Panettone, the traditional end to the
Christmas Day meal in Italy

While the children open their presents, the adults savour a glass of good Prosecco or uncork a special vintage bottle while they prepare the festive table.

Friends and relatives who drop in with presents or to exchange good wishes will be offered a glass of wine and nuts, biscuits or torrone (a type of nougat from Cremona).

Antipasti is likely to include Parma ham or Bresaola, served with preserved mushrooms, olives or pickled vegetables.

Stuffed pasta is usually served as a first course, either in the shape of ravioli or tortellini, which are said to have been offered as Christmas gifts to priests and monks during the 12th century. In the south a baked pasta dish is often served.

For the main course, turkey or capon is likely to be served in the north of Italy, with potatoes and vegetables as side dishes. Veal, beef and chicken can be served in the south.

The traditional end to the meal is almost always Panettone, served warm accompanied by a glass of sparkling wine or Prosecco. 

Salute e Buon Natale from Italy On This Day!

Travel tip:

Cremona in Lombardia is famous for producing confectionery. Negozio Sperlari in Via Solferino specialises in the city’s famous torrone (nougat). The concoction of almonds, honey and egg whites was created in the city to mark the marriage of Bianca Maria Visconti to Francesco Sforza in 1441, when Cremona was given to the bride as part of her dowry.

Travel tip:

Milan, the main city in Lombardia, is believed to be where Panettone originated.  It is said to have been concoted by a Milanese baker, Antonio (Toni), to impress his girlfriend at Christmas time in the 15th century. The result was so successful that ‘Pane de Toni’ has become a regular feature of the Christmas season all over Italy and now even abroad.

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Vigilia di Natale – Christmas Eve

Feasting on fish the night before Christmas

The day before Christmas, la Vigilia di Natale, is also referred to as ‘the feast of the seven fishes’ in Italy.

La Vigilia di Natale, captured in a painting
from around 1905

It is a tradition that no meat is served on Christmas Eve, but families in many areas will follow the tradition of serving seven fish courses for the evening meal.

Afterwards, many people will go to midnight mass to celebrate the coming of Christ and, in Rome, some will head to St Peter’s Square.

Fish dishes regularly served at the beginning of the meal include baccalà  (salt cod) and frutti di mare (shellfish). In Naples, a popular dish to start the meal is broccoli fried with frutti di mare. 

For the pasta course, lasagne with anchovies is popular in the north, while vermicelli with clams (vongole) is often served in the south.'

There are traditionally seven different fish dishes, representing the seven sacraments, on the menu on Christmas Eve, but in some households there could be even more.

In some areas of southern Italy, in the midnight between 24 and 25 December it is customary for families to stage a procession, at home, led by a candle-bearer followed by the youngest family member carrying a figurine of the baby Jesus, with the rest of the family members following. This procession ends with the placing of the “baby” in the cradle of the family nativity scene.

Travel tip:

To eat the freshest fish in Venice, look for a restaurant in the area of Campo della Pescheria, where the city’s fish market is located. It is now a vibrant area with plenty of bars and restaurants. You could sample a small portion of baccalà in true Venetian style, standing up at the counter of one of the bars, washing it down with a glass of good, local Prosecco.

The Borgo Marinara area of Naples is renowned for
seafood restaurants overlooking the harbour

Travel tip:

In Naples, try some of the fresh fish on the menu at one of the restaurants in the Borgo Marinaro area of the city where you can eat looking out at the bay and at Vesuvius. All types of seafood, cod, whiting, swordfish and lobster are readily available and will be cooked for you with expertise.

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