Friday, May 29, 2009

Bring On Il Ponte

Last weekend in the States was Memorial Day Weekend. I definitely was missing my old Memorial Day 72-hour routine of hot dogs, hamburgers, Brooklyn rooftop parties and general enjoyment of the 3 day weekend.

But the Italians more than make up for its lack of celebrating American holidays (minus the rooftop parties) with their tradition of il ponte (the bridge) and their seemingly never ending list of Italian national holidays.

Italians love their holidays that fall on Tuesdays or Thursdays. It gives them the perfect reason to also take the preceding Monday or the following Friday off, giving them their "bridge" to or from the weekend. Yes, il ponte is a beautiful thing.

And next Tuesday, June 2nd, is La Festa della Repubblica. Which is a very important holiday to me. Why, you ask? Because it means a 4 day ponte weekend mixed with equal parts Adriatic Sea, home-made cooking, white wine, catching up with friends and family in Fano, and most importantly... niente lavoro (the phrase "no work" sounds good in any language).


It's safe to say La Festa della Repubblica is my favorite Italian holiday. At least until the next ponte comes along.

2 comments:

Valerie said...

Hello!

I just launched WSE, a networking website for all the students around the world who want to find a job, an internship or volunteer abroad. Would you be interested in signing in ? I think you're living an amazing experience and it could be great if you were okay to share it with some of the members :)
Here's the address of the website: http://worldwide-students-experience.ning.com/

Best,

Valérie M.

Digital Campfire said...

Sorry man, but Memorial Day Weekend and the 72 hour drag cannot be replicated by anything in Europe. Hot dogs, hamburgers, brews, brisket, and bocce ball in the backyard. Alliteration too...

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