Every year on 1st May, the streets of Cagliari come alive with the largest and most colourful religious procession in the world. It is the Festival of Sant' Efisio and it has taken place here every year since 1656.

Efisio was a Roman officer sent to Sardinia by the Emperor Diocleziano to suppress christianity on the Island. However, during his time there, Efisio had an epiphany and rather than carrying out his orders, became a follower himself. When asked to renounce his new religion, he refused and was sentenced to death.

He was initially imprisoned in Cagliari, and then moved secretly to a location on the coast for his execution, away from his many supporters. In the year 303 he was beheaded by a Roman soldier on the beach at Nora.

A church was dedicated to him in Cagliari on the site where he was imprisoned and another at the place of his martyrdom. In 1652, Sardinia was afflicted by a plague that killed half of the inhabitants of Cagliari.

The population turned to their saint, Efisio di Elia, to save them. The authorities, in recognition of the tide of popular feeling, made an announcement that if the plague was halted by Saint Efisio, then the people would carry his statue in a procession from the church in Cagliari to the one in Nora, every year, for ever.

The plague disappeared, and the people of Cagliari have kept their promise, every year, ever since. Initially combined with the spring harvest festival, and involving a few local people, the procession has grown into a huge, colourful affair, involving thousands of people from all over Sardinia, taking part dressed in their national costumes.

Browse the main Travel Categories menu above for all the restaurants and trattoria featured in Delicious Itay divided by typology. Below we highlight a selection of places to eat in Milan and the region of the Lakes and Lombardia.

Dan Hostetler highlights Holy Week in three locations in Sardinia.

For more information about these and other events in the island, do pass by the excellent www.sardegnagrandieventi.it/

Easter celebrations in Cagliari

Parade of Dead Christ, which is very evocative and takes place the Holy Friday in late afternoon. It is one of the most important rites of the Holy Week of Cagliari.

The night parade, by candlelight, has a Spanish origin (and Catholic too). It starts from Saint John the Baptist Church and, through the picturesque districts of Villanova and Castello, snakes it's way to the Cathedral. It is organized by the old Solitude Brotherhood who incorparate original, old costumes and massed choirs, which belong to a rich, orally handed down tradition.

The rite of S'Iscravamentu (the Sacrament) takes place in the little church of the Holy Crucified. It represents the Deposition from the Crown of Christ, which is carried in the parade.

At Easter three ceremonies of the S'Incontru (the meeting) take place in the neighborhood districts of Stampace, Villanova and Marina. S'Incontru represents the meeting between the Risen Christ and the Virgin Mary with two parades, one mainly followed by men, the other by women.

They both follow the respective statues of Christ and of the Virgin Mary, in parade, and each follows a completely different route from the other. At the end, they meet amid music and dancing.

The Romanesco Artichoke Festival of Ladispoli near Rome was first celebrated in 1951 and is now held during the second week of April.

The festival was initiated to help popularize this bulbous vegetable (long recognized for its aphrodisiac properties) that is proudly cultivated in this Roman town on the Tyrrhenian Sea (it's an hour north of Rome, nestled between the Torfa Mountains and Lake Bracciano.

The town is a slightly sleepy seaside resort boasting black volcanic sands and Etruscan remains, and there is nothing too sophisticated about the event. We are, after all, talking artichokes here.

Nevertheless, each year sees a program which includes a conference on the economics and cultivation of the artichoke, a cooking contest for the best artichoke-based recipe, athletic races, and musical bands that come from all over Italy.

Our restaurant and trattoria suggestions by location.

Rome

The Westin Excelsior Hotel Rome • The St Regis Rome Hotel • Hotel Eden • The Duke Hotel • Grand Hotel Terme di Stigliano • Hotel Atlante Star • Hotel Atlante Garden • Hotel Della Torre Argentina • Noor Luxus Resort • Fontana del Papa Bed and Breakfast

Doney Restaurant • Restaurant Vivendo • La Terrazza dell'Eden • Restaurant Les Etoiles • That's Amore Restaurant • Il Monumento Restaurant Ostia

Venice

Hotel Danieli • The Westin Europa and Regina Hotel • Palazzo Tiepoletto • Residenza Bistrot de Venise

Restaurant Terrazza Danieli • Restaurant Club del Doge • La Cusina Restaurant • Bistrot de Venise Restaurant Enoteca

Florence

The St. Regis Florence Hotel • The Westin Excelsior Hotel Florence • Relais La Corte di Cloris • Hotel La Gioconda • Hotel Casci

Ristorante SE•STO on Arno • Ristorante Etichetta • ORVM Bar Restaurant

Amalfi Coast

Charming Amalfi Coast Villas

Asti Monferrato, Piemonte

Villa Gaia B&B

Bardolino, Lake Garda

Color Hotel style and design • Color Hotel Restaurant

Bologna

ABC Bed and Breakfast

Brindisi, Puglia

Masseria Torre Coccaro Savelletri di Fasano • Masseria Torre Maizza • Hotel del Levante • Hotel Sierra Selvana

Restaurant Egnathia • Restaurant Le Palme

Cariati, Calabria

Palazzo Mascambruno B&B

Carro, Liguria

Residence Paganini Holiday Cottage

Chiana Valley, Tuscany

Foresteria Il Giardino di Fontarronco • Foresteria Il Giardino di Fontarronco Restaurant

Chieti, Abruzzo

Palazzo Tour d'Eau

Cortina d'Ampezzo, Veneto

Hotel Olimpia

Cortona, Tuscany

Relais Il Falconiere • Locanda del Molino • Restaurant Il Falconiere

Deruta, Umbria

L'Antico Forziere • L'Antico Forziere Restaurant

Diano Marino, Imperia, Liguria

Grand Hotel Diana Majestic • Restaurant La Rotonda sul Mare

Eraclea, Veneto

Dune Agriturismo

Fano, Le Marche

Villa Giulia

Gallipoli, Puglia

Hotel Palazzo del Corso • Relais Corte Palmieri • Palazzo Mosco Inn

Lake Maggiore

Castello Dal Pozzo Arona • Le Fief Restaurant

Lecce, Puglia

Risorgimento Luxury Hotel • Eos Hotel • Hotel President

Le 4 Spezierie Restaurant

Levanto, Liguria

Hotel Stella Maris • Hotel Al Terra di Mare • Il Giardino di Palazzo Vannoni Restaurant

Lipari, Sicily

Holiday Housing Villa Lettings

Lucca, Tuscany

Borgo Giusto Lifestyle Hotel

Mantova, Lombardia

Locanda Azzeccagarbugli

Milan

Sheraton Diana Majestic Hotel • The Westin Palace Hotel Milan • Sheraton Milan Malpensa Airport Hotel & Conference Centre

Restaurant heat>diana • Casanova Restaurant • Il Canneto Restaurant

Monopoli, Puglia

Bellavista Suite Bed and Breakfast

Montelparo, Le Marche

Hotel Leone • Hotel Leone Restaurant

Morra d'Alba, Le Marche

Shanti House • Restaurant Dal Mago

Nocera Umbra, Umbria

Agriturismo La Corte del Lupo

Ogliastra, Sardinia

Hotel Domus de Janus

Otranto, Puglia

Relais Valle Dell'idro

Palinuro, Campania

Hotel Borgo Antico • Restaurant Poggiolo del Principe

Torri del Benaco, Lake Garda

Le Gemme di Artemisia Restaurant

Parma, Emilia Romagna

Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati Bed and Breakfast

Perugia, Umbria

The Charming Villa Nuba Rental Apartments

Peschiera del Garda

Relais Corte Paradiso

Piegaro, Umbria

Le Ginestre di Greppolischieto Rental Cottage

Ponza, Lazio

Grand Hotel Chiaia di Luna

Porto Cervo, Sardinia

Cervo Hotel Costa Smeralda Resort • Hotel Cala di Volpe • Hotel Romazzino • Hotel Pitrizza

Cala Restaurant • Pitrizza Restaurant • Terrazza Restaurant • Romazzino Restaurant

Positano

Ristorante Donna Rosa

Ragusa, Sicily

Romantik Hotel Locanda Don Serafino • Locanda Don Serafino Restaurant

Ravenna, Emilia Romagna

Relais Villa Roncuzzi

Scanno, Abruzzo

Hotel Roma • Restaurant Costanza e Roberto

Senigallia, Le Marche

Il Piccione Viaggiatore Country House

Spoleto, Umbria

Il Baio Relais Resort & Spa • Il Baio Restaurant

Taormina, Sicily

Hotel Villa Ducale • Hotel Villa Carlotta • Luxury Taormina Apartments • Osteria Rossopeperoncino

Udine, Friuli Venezia Giulia

Agriturismo Tenuta Regina

Our restaurant suggestions by region.

Rome & Lazio, Florence & Tuscany, Umbria

Carnival still remains popular in Italy although the infiltration of modern icons and influences from abroad, such as comic book cartoon heroes, has meant that many historical masks of the past are seen less and less.

However, there are those which are so popular that the tradition of wearing them will surely remain with us for many years to come. From North to South, every region of Italy has its own representative mask.

They have been drawn from the main characters in the 'commedia dell'arte' from the 1500's until the literary comedies of the 1700's. They survived as puppet characters and return each year during Carnival.

Below we highlight 16 such characters and follow the links to see images related to each.

Browse the main Travel Categories menu above for all the restaurants and trattoria featured in Delicious Itay divided by typology.

Below we highlight a selection of places to eat in Umbria from Lake Trasimeno to Deruta and Assisi. philip

The U Fistinu of Saint Rosalia is one of the most famous and popular festivals in Sicily.

The birth of the first Festino of Saint Rosalia was in the year 1624 on Pellegrino mountain, when the Saint appeared in a vision to a hunter from Palermo.

She told him where her body (that had disappeared upon her death) was buried. When the hunter returned to the city (where a terrible plague was decimating the population), he informed everyone about the appearance.

They went to the mountain, dug in the exact place she had specified to the hunter and found the body of the Saint!

At that moment the terrible infection disappeared and the miracle was taken as a telltale sign to celebrate her as the Patron Saint of the city from that time forth.

Saint Rosalia, in the following years, reached rock star status of popularity even though some claim that the bones of the Saint (that are protected in the sanctuary at the top of Monte Pellegrino) are actually those of a goat.

this gnocchi recipe is made especially in Liguria and Tuscan border like Val di Vara and Lunigiana. That's way you have pesto sauce and chestnut flavor. It is perfect for autumn and winter meals.

ingredients:

for the potatoes dough: 700 gr. of potatoes, 100 gr. of white flour, 100 gr. of chestnut flour, 1 egg, a pinch of salt

for the pesto sauce: basil, 40 gr of pecorino cheese, 40 gr of parmesan cheese, 100 gr. of olive oil, pine-nuts, garlic, pich of salt.

making it

Boil and mush the potaotes with the skin. Let it cool a bit and add slowly the two different flours, add the egg and knead the dough. Make first some little cords and then cut them into small pieces of 2 cm for having the gnocchi shape. Put the gnocchi in a floured tray. Cook the gnocchi in water with salt. as they come to the surface collect them and drizzle with pesto sauce obtained by mixing the basil with the other ingredients.