16 Apr Spending Holy Week in Abruzzo, Italy

In our little village of Citta Sant’Angelo, signs of Easter began springing up weeks ago. Shop owners hung pastel construction-paper bunnies in their windows; grocery aisles overflowed with large chocolate eggs wrapped in foil; and bakeries started selling packages of colomba (a dove-shaped cake kind of like panettone).

I always love being in other countries during holidays. It’s a special opportunity to be able to better understand the culture and witness meaningful traditions. And in Italy, where much of the traditions are derived from Catholicism, La Settimana Santa is a sacred time.

Luke and I both felt incredibly lucky to be able to participate in the festivities, and here I’ll share what we did and what we learned. 

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Palm Sunday: The Official Start of Le Settimana Santa

The beginning of Holy Week is usually marked with a mass to celebrate Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem. Here, the church bells rang loudly before service, and the open doors invited the community to worship. Outside, large vases held olive branches in place of palm fronds: a symbol of peace.

After mass, many of the parishioners stopped at the local pasta and sweets shop, Dolce E Salato. Always manned by two older women in aprons, they’re masters at hand-rolling and cutting tagliatelle and gnocchi to order. During the Pasqua holiday, they also sold rabbit and lamb-shaped shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate, and fiadoni, which are savory or sweet baked cheese pastries. Almost everyone, including myself, got a small bag full of fiodini to snack on while walking home. 

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Venerdi Santo: The Good Friday Procession

My husband and I had planned to travel to Chieti to experience Italy’s oldest Good Friday procession; but when the time came to walk to the bus stop, neither of us could muster the energy. Instead, we decided to walk up the hill and see what people in our village of Citta Sant’Angelo were up to. I’m so glad we did.

It felt like the entire town gathered to walk the corso, behind hooded figures carrying wooden crosses and sculptures representing the Passion. People played trumpets and flutes, a chorus sang songs of worship, people marched with their dogs, and parents pushed their children in strollers.

I’m not religious, but I felt something spiritual and beautiful walking with the whole of the town. To be part of the collective, experiencing the culture in such a meaningful way, was overwhelming and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it.

These Venerdi Santo processions happen all around Italy, but some of the most well-known in the Abruzzo region are “La Processione Di Cristo Morto” in Chieti and “La Madonna che Scappa in Piazza” in Sulmona. 

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Easter Sunday: A Day Celebrating with Family

Similar to many Christian traditions around the world, most Italian families celebrate Easter by exchanging chocolate Easter eggs and partaking in a celebratory lunch. In Abruzzo, it’s also customary to give children cookie dolls and cookie horses, which are found in all of the bakeries during Le Settimana Santa. 

Since Luke and I didn’t have any family in town, we decided to join other families for a set lunch menu at local restaurant Osteria Il Grottino. Dressed in our Sunday finest, Luke and I enjoyed five courses of antipasti, lasagna, handmade pasta, lamb, cake, paired with carafes of house wine. We were there for nearly three hours, twirling pappardelle and joining other patrons in celebratory toasts. (To see an Instagram reel I made of our meal, click here.)

After a much-needed espresso and amaro (the most popular Abruzzi digestives are a bitter gentian root drink called genziana and a sweet shot made from cherries and red wine grapes called ratafia), we strolled the empty corso and ducked inside a bar for one more coffee. It was about 4pm and the place was completely packed with families still finishing dessert and bottles of wine. Easter lunch is certainly a celebration in this part of the world.

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Pasquetta: A “Little Easter” Picnic with Friends

One of the many things I love about Italians is they know how to celebrate. And, why not? Holiday meals come with leftovers and hangovers; so it makes sense to continue eating and drinking in the sunshine. 

Called Pasquetta, or “Little Easter,” the Monday after Pasqua is an official holiday in Italy, and a day usually reserved for friends or families to spend time together in nature. Typically, people will pack a picnic lunch and go hiking, or just enjoy eating outside in a field or at the beach. 

Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy here, so Luke and I spent time on the couch. But we did enjoy some foods that would normally be in a local Pasquetta picnic: an asparagus frittata, fave beans, pecorino cheese, and mandarins. It was a great ending to a beautiful week of cultural insights and wonderful food.