Although Italy is officially considered a secular country, where Church and State are two separated entities, religious holidays are still recognized and widely observed as the Catholic tradition dictates. The most important religious holidays after Christmas and Easter are All Saints’ Day and the Day of the Dead, which fall respectively on November 1st and 2nd of every year. 

These two celebrations of the Catholic Church aim to commemorate the deceased and their souls and, in the region of Liguria, people traditionally wear purple or black clothes on these days, which are the color of penitence and grief. The idea of the existence of an immortal soul can be traced back to the Western philosophy which later influenced the drafting of the New Testament of the Bible aimed to justify the resurrection of the dead.

The Day of the Dead, November 2nd, is the day reserved by the Roman Catholic Church for the commemoration of the faithful departed. The celebration is based on the doctrine that if the souls of the deceased were not cleansed from sins during life, they could not reach beatitude and therefore they need to be helped to achieve it through prayers and through performing a Mass dedicated to their memory.  Some popular beliefs about the Day of the Dead have pagan origins and, according to such origins, people believe that during the night preceding the day of the dead, the souls of the departed may return to their former homes to pay visit to the living and feast with them. Some families still follow this belief and leave some food on the windows on the night of November 1st to ‘feed the souls.’

Il Pan dei Morti is especially prepared for this religious holiday. Il Pan dei Morti, or Breads of the Dead, are moist cinnamon cookies which are sold in bakeries shortly before November 2nd and are only available until this date. Il Pan dei Morti is a bone-shaped cinnamon cookie smothered with a layer of white powdered sugar or colored frosting and its bone shape wants to be a sweet reminder of our long gone loved ones.


During these two days of celebration, it is a tradition for Italians to visit cemeteries and bring a floral gift to their deceased family members, usually chrysanthemums, accompanied by lumini, special candles in a glass which can burn for days before getting extinguished. During these days some people travel a long way to visit remote and rural cemeteries where their relatives are resting.



Halloween, which literally means ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ and which is indeed the eve of All Saints’ (or hallows) Day has only been introduced to Italy in recent years but it’s not a very popular celebration yet.  For the time being, Halloween is a very commercial celebration which only entails the sale of pumpkin-shaped accessories and candies and which offers trick-or-treating events for children and themed costume parties.

　　　　　

The commemoration of the departed is important in Italy as part of the Catholic Church customs and many piazze (squares) and streets in the country are named after martyrs or fallen at war.

In the region of Liguria, in the town of Savona, there is a Square dedicated to the fallen of all wars which is called Piazza Mameli (named after the patriot, Goffredo Mameli, who is also the author of the lyrics of the Italian national anthem).

Piazza Mameli, located in the very center of Savona, is a very special square because every day of the year, at exactly 6pm, everything and everybody stops for one minute in remembrance of the soldiers and civilians who lost their lives during the wars.

Every evening at 6pm all pedestrians stop walking and ‘freeze’ for one minute while the cars are asked to pull over by policemen who specifically come here at this time to impose this ritual one minute of silence to pay tribute to the fallen at war. In the center of Piazza Mameli, the Memorial Bell rings for 21 times to represent the 21 letters of the Italian alphabet, therefore containing the initials of all the names of the fallen at war. For Savona’s inhabitants this is a common ritual which has been going on for over 80 years, but if you visit Savona for the first time it is something very unique and moving as it only happens here.