Holidays for Italians house a lot of good food, time with family, and many traditions. Some of the most celebrated holidays in Italy are Easter, Ferragosto, Christmas, and New Years Eve. Ferragosto is celebrated on August 15th, it is a public holiday and people are given the day off. The celebration dates back to 18 BC when the Emperor Augustus created a holiday where there would be horse races and large feasts as a break from the long weeks working in agriculture.
Due to almost all of the holidays falling in different seasons the food that is made is different and composes different ingredients based on what is available.
For Easter, a lot of the main traditional courses involve lamb. There is also a lot of different desserts and sweet breads made. In Northern Italy the dish Agnolotti del Plin will be made to accompany the meal. The pasta is stuffed with beef and cabbage and is served with a cheese and butter sauce over the top. Easter lunch will typically see a pasta in broth or meatballs as one of the main dishes.
For Christmas Eve the meal will be composed of fish as a lot of other types of meat is not typically served. A lot of meatless dishes are also the main contributors to the meal with gnocchi and stuffed pasta being popular in the north, Veneto serves a buckwheat pasta in a creamy anchovy sauce. For Christmas day the main meal will be the Christmas dinner which can be hours long. This meal will be meat-based and have a wide range of options available. For Southern and Central Italy a baked pasta would be served, while Northern Italy has Lasagne Bolognese and filled pasta like manicotti and ravioli. Here is a recipe to a Christmas pasta that is made in some parts of Italy.
Ferragosto is celebrated in the summer making it so the food that is served is less pasta based. The food is a little lighter and the main focus is spending time with family and having a little holiday. Pasta dishes are served but none that I could find are traditional to the holiday. For New Years Eve a lot of regions will have risotto or tortellini/cappelletti in broth. Much like other places around the world, New Years Eve is celebrated with lots of smaller dishes of food rather than a large main course.
Cooking Court 