As in the other countries also in Italy we celebrate

History and origin of the feast

According to the Christian's tradition Easter is considered the most important feast because it celebrates Christ's passion and

resurrection. The celebrating day is the first Sunday after forty days

of Lent.

Easter is preceded by a period of repentance and by many

processions, and the most important is called ''Via Crucis''.

Some traditions of Easter

Easter is a feast full of simbols and traditional dishes. The most important

are:

the chocolate egg

the dove, a traditional cake made with flour, eggs, sugar, natural yeast and

butter. The name refers to the animal which is the simbol of the Holy Spirit.

the lamb, usually eaten during the Easter lunch, which represents the

sacrifice of Jesus.

Traditional feasts in Pistoia

The joust of the bear The joust of the bear (Giostra dell'orso)(Giostra dell'orso)

25th of July25th of July

Feast of S.BartolomeoFeast of S.Bartolomeo

24th of August24th of August

The joust of the bearThis event is celebrated on the St.

Jacob's (our counsel) day and it consists in a competition among

four districts: WhiteWhite deerdeer (Cervobianco), Dragon,Dragon, GriffonGriffon

(Grifone) and Golden LionGolden Lion (Leon d'oro).

Each district represents one of the four areas of Pistoia. These areas correspond to the four gates of the ancien city: Porta al Borgo,

Porta Lucchese, Porta San Marco and Porta Carratica.

HistoryHistory

In this competition there are several sessions and in each of them there are two cavaliers.

The aim of the cavalier is to try to hit the wood bear's arm faster than his opponent riding a horse

around a circular racecourse. The district which gets the

higher number of points is the winner.

White deerWhite deer

DraDragongon

GoldenGolden lionlion GriffonGriffon

Feast of Saint Bartolomeo

It's a traditional religious feast of Pistoia in which people use to go to the church in order to bless themselves

with the oil in S.Bartolomeo's church. Besides in the square front of the church there are many stalls where you can

find toys and typical sweets like the ''Corona of ''Corona of

S.Bartolomeo''.S.Bartolomeo''.

...but for us, young people, ...but for us, young people, the coolest event of our city is...the coolest event of our city is...

What is it?!It's the most famous music festival celebrated in our city. It started in 1980 and it always takes place in july. It is internationally known

and many popular artists take part every year in it: B.B. King, Bob

Dylan, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Lenny Kravitz and Skunk Anansie.

It is really loved also because streets are full of stalls and people enjoy themselves all together. The typical drink of this festival is the

spanish sangria.