Easter in Italy: What To Expect 2026
Travelers to Italy, especially families, often find themselves spending Easter in Italy. That’s because the holiday always coincides with school calendars when children and teens are off from school for spring break.
Others return to Italy to celebrate the holiday with family or friends. Here’s what to expect in Italy during the Easter holiday.
When is Easter celebrated in Italy?
Easter Day
This falls earlier this year than last. Easter Sunday (La Pasqua) is on Sunday, April 05, 2026, the same date as in the U.S. It is a public holiday when almost everything is closed. The 40-day period of Lent began on Ash Wednesday, February 19, 2026.
Easter Monday
Like some 116 other countries around the world, Italy celebrates Easter Monday the very next day, which is also a public holiday. Easter Monday falls on April 6 this year, more than two weeks later than last year.
Easter Monday is called Pasquetta (Little Easter) in Italy. Banks, post offices, and most schools are closed, and many businesses have closed or adjusted their hours.
Public transportation schedules are often modified over the Easter weekend as well.
Easter Weekend
The extended Easter weekend allows Italians time off to be with family and friends.
Shopkeepers and restaurant owners take advantage of the long Easter weekend to “fare il ponte.” This Italian expression translates as “to make a bridge.” On public holidays in Italy like this one, many shopkeepers and other workers may even add additional days to a public holiday to extend their time off.
Is Easter a good time to visit Italy?
With a few caveats, April can be one of the best times of the year to visit Italy.
Pleasant weather
Although there is always the possibility of rain, the temperature isn’t likely to be too hot or too cold.
Of course, there is some variability in the weather depending on where you’re headed, northern Italy vs. southern Italy. If you’re visiting regions in northern Italy, there could even be a chance of snow. In southern Italy, water temperatures are likely to be too chilly for swimming and many beach resorts will still not have opened for the season.
Overall, spring and fall are the most pleasant times of year to visit Italy. If you are lucky, the weather can be near perfect.
Fewer crowds
Another important plus for spring travel to Italy: Spring is a shoulder season, so there are fewer crowds at tourist attractions in large, densely populated cities and fewer queues at popular museums and attractions.
However, the Easter holidays, per se, tend to attract an influx of visitors during the weeks immediately preceding and following Easter Sunday.
Spring flowers, fruits, and vegetables
In many areas of the country, flowers are beginning to bloom. And because much of Italian cuisine is driven by the seasons, you’ll arrive just in time to savor the spring bounty of vegetables and fruits eaten at home and appearing on restaurant menus.
Easter holiday traditions in Italy
Easter in Italy offers travelers a truly unique opportunity to observe and participate in religious processions, parades, concerts, village festivals, and other cultural traditions, and to enjoy some special foods associated with the holiday.
You’ll have no trouble finding a special Easter mass in churches across every city and small town from north to south, although many Easter traditions, including religious ones, vary from place to place.
What are the drawbacks to visiting Italy during Easter?
A visit to Italy during the Easter holiday may pose certain inconveniences:
Easter closures
As mentioned previously, a number of shops and restaurants may be closed on both Sunday and Monday.
By no means does this mean you won’t eat, or that you won’t eat well. Most restaurants remain open. But it’s prudent to make reservations in advance because you’ll be competing for a place at the table with many Italians and other visitors who will also be celebrating Easter.
Most major museums are open on Easter weekend but always check ahead to be sure of their opening hours. Of course, the Vatican Museums are closed on both of these holy days. But the Uffizi Galleries in Florence often have several special spring openings, including Easter Day and Easter Monday. State museums offer free access for everyone on the first Sunday of each month, including Easter, so booked entrances aren’t available.
Transportation
As might be the case during any holiday at home, you may run into more traffic than usual with the arrival of visitors and locals traveling the roads to be with family and friends. During the Easter holiday, people tend to flock to Italy’s most popular tourist destinations, like Rome, Florence and Venice.
Because of the public holidays on Sunday and Monday, train schedules on Easter and Easter Monday are usually modified.
Crowds
Even pedestrians may encounter crowds lining streets for parades or long religious processions on Good Friday and Holy Saturday (the Friday and Saturday before Easter Sunday). Participants in many of these processions are dressed in traditional robes and carry large statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
Most of these drawbacks are minor inconveniences that will be far outweighed by the beautiful weather, spring foods and festivities, and unique opportunities to witness and participate in Italian Easter traditions.
Easter Traditions in Italy: Special Regional and Local Celebrations
Whether you’re religious or not, visitors arriving during the Easter holiday will want to check with city or regional tourism offices to find out about the respective traditions and celebrations at their destination(s).
It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of Easter church bells, costumes, music, confetti, and streamers. No matter which region you are in, you’re likely to find something unique to observe or participate in. Many of these festivities are so special that they are worth traveling to.
These are a few examples of some of the special Italian Easter traditions steeped in history:
Easter in Abruzzo
- On Easter Sunday, in Sulmona (in the Abruzzo region), townspeople dress in green and white for the Madonna che Scappa festival. In the town’s main square, everyone eats, enjoys music, and watches a re-enactment of the “Running Madonna,” a woman dressed as the Virgin Mary.
Easter in Calabria
- In Calabria, many municipalities in the province of Reggio Calabria celebrate Affruntata. It is a procession and a theatrical representation of the resurrection, with participants carrying sacred statues of the Virgin Mary, Saint John, and Christ Resurrected on their shoulders.
Easter in Campania
- Two moving Holy Week processions are held in Sorrento. On the Thursday before Easter, people wear white robes with hoods and black belts as they walk through the streets carrying an image of the Virgin Mary, who is metaphorically searching for her son. The next day, on Friday, people dress in hooded black robes in a funeral march representing the death of Christ. Both of these moving parades are accompanied by music.
Easter in Emilia Romagna
- Sarasina is a tiny village in the Apennine Mountains near Cesena in Emilia Romagna. On the two Sundays preceding Easter, the town celebrates a Sagra della Pagnotta Pasquale (Easter Loaf Festival), which marks the advent of Easter. Along with bread, locals eat salsiccia matta (crazy sausage) and rustic guscioni (stuffed piadina bread).
- The annual Cervia Kite Festival opens on Easter weekend, April 4, and extends until May 3, 2026. The prestigious and longest-running international kites festival features not only kites but art, artists, and performers, celebrating themes of peace and nature.
- Visitors to Bologna during the Easter weekend can visit iconic landmarks and take advantage of all the museums and exhibitions open over the holiday. During this period, Tulipark, featuring 500,000 tulip bulbs in bloom, is a great outdoor destination.
Easter in Liguria
- After church on Easter Sunday, the residents of Badalucco (one of the most beautiful villages in Italy) meet in the main piazza to play an unusual game called scotezzo. This unusual ancient tradition involves bumping eggs with an opponent to see who cracks the other’s egg and wins the challenge.
Easter in Lombardy
- People in Bormio (in the Lombardy region) look forward to the Pasquali parade. On Easter Day, religious-themed floats carried shoulder-high along the Via Roma.
- The Fiera dell’Angelo (the Angel Fair), a tradition that began in 1511, is celebrated in Milan on Easter Monday. Not limited to flowers and plants, the fair also showcases regional gastronomy and handicrafts.
Easter in Umbria
- In Umbria, the star of breakfast is the Easter cake. But lunch varies by the area, often including a pasta like meat-filled agnolotti, tagliatelle, pappardelle or strangozzi spoletini (homemade thick spaghetti made without eggs) and a second course of lamb.
- On Pasquetta (Easter Monday), a cheese-rolling competition called Ruzzolone takes place in Panicale, a small village in the province of Perugia (Umbria). The unusual festival dates back to Etruscan times.
Easter in Piemonte
- Coinciding with the Easter weekend from Saturday, March 30 to Monday, April 1, The Palace of Venaria (part of the Royal residence of the House of Savoy located near Turin) has a cherry blossom festival in its gardens. The event at this UNESCO World Heritage Site features rows of trees with pink blossoms, concerts, shows for children, aperitifs and a themed lunch.
Easter in Rome (Lazio)
- Easter is not only one of the most sacred times but also one of the busiest times to visit Rome.
- In Rome, the Pope offers a solemn papal address, Urbi et Orbi (Latin for, to the city and the world), at noon in the Central loggia of the Vatican Basilica. This special blessing is reserved for Easter, Christmas and the proclamation of a new Pope. Afterward, a procession with the Resurrected Christ is carried through the streets.
Easter in Sicily
- Easter traditions in Sicily include the “Misteri” parade in Erici. In this procession, four 18th-century statues depicting the passion of Christ are carried through the streets, starting at the church of San Giuliano.
- In Trapani (also in Sicily), the 400-year-old Misteri di Trapani (procession of the Mysteries) takes place on Good Friday, lasting 24 hours. The procession includes 20 sculptures representing the passion and death of Christ.
- In Palermo, Villa Igiea, a five-star Rocco Forte Hotel, typically sponsors special Easter meals. On Sunday, the Easter lunch features live music and an Easter egg hunt for children in the property’s gracious gardens. On Easter Monday, the brunch offers seasonal roasts and generous salads, ending with traditional Easter desserts.
Easter in Tuscany
- Scoppio del Carro (literally the explosion of the cart) is an Easter tradition in Florence that dates back to the 11th century. At 11 AM, right after Easter Sunday mass, white oxen pull the cart from S.S. Apostoli to the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. At the end, a colombina (a rocket shaped like a dove) is launched, signifying a good harvest and a prosperous year.
Easter in Umbria
- Umbria is often called the “green heart of Italy” because of its extraordinary appeal to nature lovers. On Easter and Easter Monday, it’s a perfect destination to escape the crowds and enjoy cycling, trekking, visiting parks and botanical gardens, and more. The official Umbria Tourism website lists tips for visiting during the Easter season.
Easter in Veneto
- On Easter Monday in Venice, the Doge of Venice leads a procession from the Basilica of San Marco to the convent of San Zaccaria, wearing golden robes, slippers and a scepter.
Easter Foods in Italy: What do Italians eat during Easter?
In a food-centric country like Italy, it’s not surprising that a number of culinary traditions are also associated with the Easter holidays.
This may be especially so because the Easter holiday coincides with the end of Lent, when Christians fast or abstain from their favorite foods, such as chocolate, other sweets, alcohol, or coffee.
On Easter Sunday, many Italians gather at home for a large family feast featuring soup, risotto or pasta, lamb or capretta (roast kid goat), boiled eggs, the bounty of spring vegetables, cakes and pastries, sweets and wine, most often white wines.
[See recipe on La Cucina for Torta Pasqualina (Italian Easter Pie).]
At Easter, eggs are symbolic of life, renewal, and fertility; the lamb represents new birth and the shepherd. In some places, parishioners bring boiled or chocolate eggs to be blessed at the Sunday mass.
An excellent article written by The Roman Food Tour offers examples of many regional Italian Easter foods. Visitors to Italy will be able to find many of the same dishes on restaurant menus.
Before getting together for the Easter Sunday meal, one or more family members will likely make an early morning run to a nearby bakery to purchase the ubiquitous Easter cakes and pastries, such as the dove-shaped Colomba di Pasqua or Pane di Pasqua (Easter bread), that are typical of this season. For this reason, you can expect to find many bakeries in Italy open on Easter Sunday morning.
Read more about Colomba Easter bread.
Regional Italian Easter Desserts
Depending on where you’re visiting, you’ll also be able to find special regional Easter desserts.
Uncinetti
- For example, Uncinetti Easter cookies derive from Calabria. The cake-like cookies are slightly sweet, fluffy, and topped with a lemon glaze.
Soffioni di Ricotta
- Soffioni di Ricotta are little pastries; some say they are a cross between a muffin and a cupcake. A specialty of the Abruzzo region, these fluffy little cheesecakes have a buttery crust and are filled with Ricotta cheese.
Pastiera Napoletana
- One of the Easter dessert specialties enjoyed in Campania and said to have been born in Naples is the Pastiera Napoletana. The pie-like pastry has a shortbread crust with a creamy ricotta filling laced with fragrant orange blossom water. Another dessert specialty enjoyed in Campania is the Neapolitan Casatiello, a ring-shaped bread filled with cheese, eggs, and meats.
This is the Pastiera Napoletana from award-winning pastrymaker Settepani (available on Goldbelly).
Scarcelle Pugliesi
- Scarcelle Pugliesi is an Easter specialty of Puglia. This cookie-like pastry is lemon-flavored and has a braided shortbread crust, sometimes wrapped around a hard-boiled egg. It is then covered with a sweet glaze and often decorated with colorful sprinkles.
Sardinian Pardulas
- In Sardinia, you’re likely to find Pardulas during the Easter holiday. These sweet desserts with a rounded top are made with ricotta cheese, saffron, lemon zest, and honey and covered with honey. A savory version is also made with pecorino cheese and herbs.
Other Easter food traditions
Leftovers:
On Easter Monday, many Italians head to parks or the countryside to enjoy Easter leftovers and wine at picnics with friends.
No Easter Bunnies:
Italian-American Sabrina Hebert, part of Italian chocolatier Baratti & Milano’s U.S. team, was born on a farm in Calabria. “Most of our holidays in the south of Italy were based on traditional feasts as opposed to the Easter activities that are popular in the U.S. (such as Easter egg hunts and Easter bunnies),” she explains. You aren’t likely to find Easter bunnies in Italy!
Easter Pizza (Crescia):
At least four regions, Umbria, Lazio, Marche, and Abruzzo, celebrate the holiday with Easter Pizza. It’s not really a pizza. The special bread can either be savory or sweet. The savory version is baked with pecorino and parmesan cheese; the sweet version is covered with meringue icing and topped with sugar pearls.
Easter Gift Traditions in Italy
In Italy, chocolate eggs (uova di Pasqua) are often the most popular gift, especially among sweet lovers, children and adults alike. Some of the eggs are solid, others are hollow and filled with a small toy or other surprises inside.
In some bespoke chocolate shops in Italy, customers can bring their own “surprise” (which might even be a piece of jewelry) to be embedded between the two halves of the chocolate egg.
The chocolate eggs are often elegantly packaged in colored foil, suitable for gift-giving on Easter Day. “The artisan chocolate Easter egg is a centuries-old symbol of all-Italian beauty dating back to the Middle Ages, a symbol of excellence at Easter,” says Hebert.
Colomba is another gift-giving favorite. Made in the shape of a dove, symbolizing hope, with a dough of flour, eggs, butter and yeast, the sweet bread is similar to the Panettone Italians enjoy at Christmas and New Year’s. Because the “bread” is sweet, almost cake-like, it’s often enjoyed as a dessert with a glass of wine.
The differences between Panettone and Colomba are the latter’s dove-like rather than round shape and the substitution of candied orange peel for the raisins used in Panettone.
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Sweet Easter traditions to be enjoyed at home
If you aren’t able to make it to Italy, there are still ways to celebrate the holiday at home, Italian style. Here are some examples of Colomba sweet breads, a traditional Easter loaf recipe, and delicious Italian chocolate eggs, all available online.
Eataly Colomba Cakes
Eataly is the rapidly expanding Italian superstore where guests can find specialty foods from every region of Italy. Naturally, it offers a wide range of Easter foods, including Colomba.
The store’s Signature collection comes in two flavors: Classic and Three Chocolate. Both artisanal products are made with the highest-quality ingredients, including lievito madre (mother yeast), and are free of preservatives and artificial flavors. The Classic Colomba is topped with an almond-studded glaze. The Three Chocolate Colomba is filled with a delicious mix of white, milk, and dark chocolate chunks.
You’ll salivate when you see all the brands and varieties of Colomba available from Eataly.
Olivieri 1882 Colomba
Olivieri 1882 has been recognized for its quality by Gambero Rosso, one of the most important food and wine magazines in Italy. Based in Arzignano, in the Veneto region, this artisanal Italian baker has been making breads and cakes for more than 130 years.
Their 100% handmade Colomba includes the classic version (topped with a sugar glaze and sliced almonds) and variations such as Triple Chocolate, Apricot Salted Caramel, Lemon & Wild Strawberries, and more. All are crafted with high-quality ingredients such as Tahitian Bourbon vanilla bean, raw cane sugar, centrifuged Belgian butter, and Italian acacia honey.
Always innovating, Olivieri 1882 has introduced a new flavor this year: A decadent Easter-Egg-Shaped Dark Chocolate Colomba with a Caramel and Hazelnut Glaze.
SEE IT ON THE OLIVIERI 1882 WEBSITE
Tasty Ribbon Fiasconaro Columba Pandorata
Crafted in Castelbuono, a small town nestled in the Madonie Mountains in Sicily, each Fiasconaro Panettone reflects the pasty maker’s unwavering commitment to quality, slow production methods, and the island’s authentic ingredients and flavors, including Sicilian citrus and honey.
Tasty Ribbon is a New York-based, woman-owned purveyor of the finest luxury Italian food gifts, offering a curated line of artisanal products. They carry a full line of bespoke Easter gifts and products.
Settepani Colomba
Italian-born chef Nino Settepani initially imported Panettone before baking it himself. His family-led Williamsburg bakery uses only the finest ingredients—many sourced directly from Italy.
Now, his daughter, Bilena Settepani, is head baker. Combining innovation with tradition, she’s not afraid to experiment while staying true to her roots. While Panettone is traditionally a holiday staple, Settepani has reimagined “Panettone Tutto L’Anno,” which can be enjoyed year-round, proving that moments of joy need not be limited to a few weeks each year. Chocolate lovers will enjoy the Settapani Nutella Panettone, which is dotted with chocolate chips and melted dark chocolate, filled with Nutella, and covered with chocolate ganache.
If you live in New York City, you can pick up these mouth-watering breads at one of the store’s five locations. Settepani products are available nationwide on Goldbelly.
Loison Colomba Cakes
Based in Costabissara, Veneto, this three-generation family business produces a full line of Colombe. The varieties include cakes using such aromatics as mandarin from Ciaculli, figs from Calabria, and single-origin chocolate from South America.
Based in Costabissara, Veneto, this three-generation family business produces a full line of Colombe. The varieties include cakes using such aromatics as mandarin from Ciaculli, figs from Calabria, and single-origin chocolate from South America.
Bonifanti Pear and Chocolate Chip Colomba
Vincenz Bonifanti has been creating Colombe since 1932. The bakery is in a shop in the center of Villafranca, a small town in Piedmont.
This Easter cake makes a delicious dessert.
Armani/Dolci by Guido Gobino Chocolate Easter Egg
This Easter Egg is the epitome of elegance. Guido Gobino’s sustainable “Made in Italy” chocolates have been produced in Turin since 1964 but it wasn’t until 2007 that Guido Gobino opened his first bottega (retail shop) in a historic building in that city. There are now a total of six retail shops and a unique partnership between the chocolatier and Armani.
This dark chocolate-and-mint egg is just one of many in the collection. Inside beautiful packaging, the dark chocolate egg is embossed with an “A” and features a chevron design from the Giorgio Armani and Armani-Casa collection, made with 75% dark chocolate. It makes a wonderful gift for friends and relatives.
And be sure to check out all the other wonderful chocolates in the Guido Gobino Easter Collection.
Venchi Easter Eggs
Venchi chocolates are made in Piedmont, the region that is Italy’s leading confectionery producer. The company prides itself on sourcing the best possible cocoa, and all of the recipes rely on 100% natural, gluten-free ingredients made without palm oil.
Venchi’s handcrafted chocolate eggs are a beloved Easter tradition, made with the finest natural ingredients. Choose from classic milk chocolate, rich dark chocolate, or creamy white chocolate among a wide selection of classic eggs, gourmet eggs, mini-eggs, chocolate animals, and Easter gift packs.
This assortment of mini-hazelnut chocolate eggs is packaged in a designer egg tin. How sweet is that? It is also available in Bunny or Flower Tins. A great gift to welcome springtime!
READ MORE
Other ideas about celebrating Easter in Italy from the Italian National Tourist Office.
[Reviewed and revised 03/2026]
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Easter in Italy looks beautiful – and your photos are gorgeous too!
Hope yours is a happy one!