By: Erin Gage
November in Florence brings more than grey skies and cooler weather. The leaves are turning yellow, and warm soups and pastas make even tastier dinners as it gets darker earlier. The slow turn into winter has started! And to kick off the month, there’s All Saints Day to ease you into the penultimate month of the year.
All Saints Day, or the Italian Festa di Ognissanti, is a public holiday with religious origins, celebrated across Italy. It takes place annually November 1st, and is a celebration for all the saints of the Catholic calendar. The origins of this festivity can be dated as far back as the seventh and eighth centuries AD, likely originating from the holiday on May 13th dedicated to Mary and all the saints but was moved to November 1st. Tradition makes it a good day for prayer, particularly for souls stuck in purgatory, but the public holiday has turned into a pleasant day off for secular residents (that is, should November 1st not fall on a weekend).
Following All Saints Day is all Souls day (La Giornata dei Morti, literally “day of the dead”), with the link between the two celebrations established in 998 AD when the Abbot Odilo of Cluny dedicated the day as remembrance of the dead.
Diverse rituals span across the country for All Souls Day. In the region of Lombardy, people put out a fresh bottle of water in the kitchen as an offering to quench the dead’s thirst. In Piemonte, families leave the table set for the dead to feast, whereas in Liguria, tradition is set where grandparents tell scary stories to their grandchildren over cooked beans and chestnuts.
Some food centered around the holiday include Fave dei Morti (beans of the dead), and Ossa dei Morti (bones of the dead). Both of these Italian cookies consist of peeled almonds, pine nuts, flour, powdered sugar, lemon, cinnamon, eggs, and grappa.
Fave dei Morti are so called because they traditionally take the shape of fava beans, which were believed to represent the souls of the dead at funerals.
Ossa dei Morti on the other hand follow nearly the same recipe, but have a firmer texture. Variations on this cookie come from Piedmont, Lombardy, Parma, and Sicily.
Italian bakeries across the city should have these cookies freshly baked come the holiday; check out Vecchio Forno, on the corner of Via Guelfa and Via San Gallo. For more baking-inclined students, you can the recipe in this article!
Read more:
- https://italiantribune.com/all-saints-and-all-souls-day/
- https://lifeinitaly.com/all-saints-and-all-souls-day-in-italy/
- https://itamcap.com/blog/how-all-saints-day-is-celebrated-in-italy/
- https://lifeinitaly.com/the-fave-dei-morti-all-saints-day/
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