Verona is a city special in itself. Whether it is the understandable curiosity of discovering the most romantic Shakespearean city, the charm of its streets and squares, or the many modern films that have chosen its bridges as the location for its stories, the city remains one of the favorite destinations of all those who wish to spend New Year’s Eve, in style.
Several centuries ago, in the eastern regions of the north of Italy, the 31st of December did not signal the end and the beginning of a new year but rather March 1st. In Venice, capital of the Serenissima Republic, this was the day people scared the cold of February to welcome the beginning of the new year in spring. Such calendar is consistent with the etymology of the months of September, the 7th month, October the 8th and so on. In Tuscany New Year’s Eve was celebrated on March 25th, while in the South of Italy it started the first day of September. It wasn’t until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the pope’s edict that everyone in Italy moved the celebration to January 1st.
Verona, true to the traditions that follow the vast majority of Italian cities, will dress up to welcome 2012. St. Sylevester’s night is celebrated with many initiatives among which are parties, dinners and lots of outdoor activities. Of course, some seconds before the end of the year are saved to go through the best and the worst of 2011 and to ultimate the promises for the year that begins.
The star of Verona’s New Year’s Eve, the fireworks in Piazza Bra are coming back this year to scare away the evils and ghosts as they have done throughout history. Next to the Arena di Verona, in one of the most spectacular places of the Veneto Region, the fireworks will illuminate the city and the Falling Star by Rinaldo Olivieri, the sculpture that every year decorates the square from the day of Santa Lucia.
Piazza Bra is in fact the scenario from the 10th to the 13th of December, of a tradition that is not exclusive to Italy but to other Mediterranean countries as well, like Spain. The fair of the Sicilian Santa Lucia is a small market of sweets, toys and even coal that makes all citizens challenge the low temperatures of the winter. Without knowing it, they actually maintain a ritual that started in the XIII century and by which the people would take their children to Santa Agnese’s church city on Santa Lucia’s Day to protect them from the epidemic that had hit the town.
The days of darkness passed, New Year’s Eve in Verona is all about starting anew, an explosion of joy for the new perspectives of the new year in which even those mistaken in 2011 have the chance to make 2012 the best of their years. Verona is the perfect setting to celebrate this clean slate by involving everyone to participate in the parties and taste the arancini of the many stalls that go around the main square and that go right up to the center of the city.
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