Festa de l'Unità
Encyclopedia
Festa de l'Unità is an annual social-democratic celebration in Italy
, originally organised by the Italian Communist Party
to finance and spread its official newspaper l'Unità ("Unity"), and now organised by Partito Democratico. It is often misspelled Festa dell'unità ("Unity party"), since people forget where the name comes from.
The "festa" is generally organized as lots of separated happenings, usually one for each city, but where the Communist party was more present, every local branch organized its own happening and often all of them collaborated to the organization of a large one as well. Typical aspects are low-price or free typical foods, live music, prize games and street markets. Small events start already in July, but the main happenings take place in September.
While the political aspect was preponderant in its first times, and is at times still important, it has developed with time into a social event for the youth (music events and discos) and elderly people (talking about the political adventures of their past and dancing swing).
In some parts of Italy, especially in Tuscany
and Emilia-Romagna
, each and every small village seems to have its own "festa de l'Unità", which is often the biggest social event of the year. In Florence
and in Bologna
, they have developed into a two-week long, tens-of-thousands-people-packed event that has little resemblance to the original political gathering, and are instead two of the biggest attractors for young people in the nearby areas
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, originally organised by the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
to finance and spread its official newspaper l'Unità ("Unity"), and now organised by Partito Democratico. It is often misspelled Festa dell'unità ("Unity party"), since people forget where the name comes from.
The "festa" is generally organized as lots of separated happenings, usually one for each city, but where the Communist party was more present, every local branch organized its own happening and often all of them collaborated to the organization of a large one as well. Typical aspects are low-price or free typical foods, live music, prize games and street markets. Small events start already in July, but the main happenings take place in September.
While the political aspect was preponderant in its first times, and is at times still important, it has developed with time into a social event for the youth (music events and discos) and elderly people (talking about the political adventures of their past and dancing swing).
In some parts of Italy, especially in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
and Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
, each and every small village seems to have its own "festa de l'Unità", which is often the biggest social event of the year. In Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, they have developed into a two-week long, tens-of-thousands-people-packed event that has little resemblance to the original political gathering, and are instead two of the biggest attractors for young people in the nearby areas