6 Must-Experience Traditions as an Expat in Italy

If you’ve read any of my articles here on Dealstream about Italy, I know you’re probably foaming at the mouth, envisioning your own transition into expat life. While the start of settling into my life here in Italy was bumpy, I’ve now found so many charming things that make me love this country even more.

Here are a few of the Old-World traditions that have become a regular part of my life in the south of Italy.

Making Salami

We’ll start this list in January, since every season has its own traditions. In January, the pig the family bought last year is fattened up and ready to arrive on our plates in all different forms.

Now, I’ll admit, I’m still too squeamish to watch the actual…what’s the appropriate word? Assassination? Murder? Oh yes, slaughter of the animal, nor the processing of it. But when it arrives all chopped up and unrecognizable as the animal it once was, that’s when the fun begins.

Each year, I join my mother-in-law, aunts, and neighbors in preparing salsiccia, a spicy sausage that is cured for several months. Each woman has her special job. As the newcomer, I have the easiest job: feeding meat into the grinder, which is pushed into sausage casings.

The ambiance is warm and cozy. We laugh and tell jokes, which is a great opportunity for me to learn the local dialect.

Easter Traditions

While Americans are used to Christmas being the holiday of the year, for Italians, Easter is often even bigger. And forget the Easter Bunny; these traditions center around religious processions.

The week leading up to Easter is la Settimana Santa, or Holy Week. Small towns all over Italy have different events, like the reenactment of Jesus being crucified (not as gory as it sounds), or, in the case of my adopted town, a unique religious procession called Naca.

While there are Naca processions throughout Italy, the Calabrian town of Davoli is the only one with this tradition: dozens of pine trees are covered in handmade paper lanterns, which then light the way for the procession that winds through the town for hours. People sing dirges, and though it’s supposed to be a solemn event, I find it festive because the trees remind me of Christmas trees all lit up!

The evening before Easter, there’s a midnight mass. Even if you’re not Catholic, it’s a notable experience. And in our town, people meet at the bar afterward to celebrate Easter with prosecco.

Easter day is all about eating and spending time with family. There are even chocolate eggs, some of which are bigger than your head! They’re great to share with family, and bonus: there’s always a prize inside.

Making Wine

This is everyone’s favorite Italian tradition to hear about! Though our family doesn’t grow grapes, we do buy them from Sicily to make our own wine, both white and red.

It’s a family affair; we all gather in the cantina to first macerate the grapes in a giant grinder, then put them into a press to squeeze out the juice. The grape juice fizzles and pops for a day before it is put into jugs and transported to another cantina, where it does the hard work of becoming wine over the next five months.

Then, when it’s ready, there’s always homemade wine on the table!

Picking Chestnuts

I never in a million years would have imagined that every year, I’d be crouching on the ground in the woods picking up prickly chestnuts, but it’s actually really fun! And considering that I do not enjoy eating chestnuts, I do it for the love of being in the woods with family, not for the perk of free food!

My father-in-law is part of a cooperative that sells the chestnuts the members collect to businesses that use them to make flour and other products. But always, a few kilos end up at the house for the family and guests to enjoy, either raw or roasted in the fire.

Then there’s a festival in November where visitors can enjoy chestnut donuts (called zeppole), pasta made from chestnuts, and desserts made from chestnut flour.

Harvesting Olives

Somehow, despite how physically exhausting activities like picking chestnuts or harvesting olives are, it never feels like work in Italy!

After every last chestnut on the forest floor has been collected, we turn our attention to the olives, which, over the last few months, have grown nice and plump.

We harvest them the old-fashioned way: by hand. My father-in-law climbs each tree and shakes the olives on faraway branches with a forked tool. We pick the olives on the lower branches from the ground, then we gather those that have fallen.

It isn’t long before I feel the ping! of an olive bopping me on my head. I look up to see my father-in-law grinning at me. The olive harvest is anything but serious!

The olives will be used in several ways. The earliest, we squish using a wooden tool. This releases the pit. The olives are then stuffed into a giant glass jar, where they’ll sit for several weeks before being consumed like candy by yours truly.

The later olives are used both for olive oil and for eating whole. The whole olives are put into jars with water and preserved to be eaten later in the year.

For the olive oil, we take bags and bags of freshly-picked olives to a nearby frantoio, or olive mill. It’s all modern now, but back in the day, a mule would turn a stone wheel that would press the olives, releasing their golden oil. Now it’s done in a matter of minutes.

Fresh oil is sacred. When we get the first press, we push aside the old oil we’ve been using (which is still delicious) in favor of the slightly sharp, green oil. It’s great on a salad!

Drinking Coffee Together

Not every tradition is a huge event; sometimes it’s the little ones that make my day. Take coffee, for instance. You might not give it much thought other than the fact that it’s the fuel that gets you going in the morning.

But in Italy, coffee is the thread that weaves relationships together. When someone says, “Ti offro un caffé,” say yes. They’re offering you more than just a €1 espresso. They’re offering you the gift of time. And you might hurt their feelings if you say no!

For me, living in a tiny town, population 600, accepting the offer of a coffee is a way to get to know my neighbors. Stopping to chat for 10 minutes shows them that I’m happy to be a part of their community.

While the traditions may change from one part of Italy to another, what remains the same is the intention. Each of these customs comes from a place of love, and they honor the past. I truly hope you get a chance to experience at least one of these!