I really didn’t want to post too often, but the holidays are just back to back right now.

Some are just for fun, but some actually affect you daily life. If a town has a patron saint or two, like my village, things shut down.

Today is Valentine’s day, which needs to introduction, although now in Italy it has also become very commercial. Here is a link to the story  of San Valentino,  a Bishop from Terni, Umbria in Italy.

But what happens when holidays collide?

Today is also Ash Wednesday, Mercoledi delle Cenere,the day Lent begins in Italy. Butcher shops are closed today. WHO KNEW? These are the little things you learn while living here.

So Carnevale is over, it ended with Martedi Grasso, Fat Tuesday and Lent, Quaresima begins. My husband was explaining that on Tuesday, you were to finish all the fatty foods in the house and get ready to start your lenten diet of eating fish and vegetables. Giving up candy, meats and other rich foods.

But don’t worry, we also have special dishes to eat for lent, including a special cookie called Quaresimali, which vary from town to town. Where I live they are baked chocolate cookies made with nuts.

I also didn’t have time to talk about another Saint, San Remo! The festival of San Remo isn’t religious, but rather Italy’s yearly music festival which people either love or hate passionately. The festival is held in San Remo, the village on the coast.

New singers are presented and classic old singers are part of the show as well.  This year the winner will then participate in the Eurovision show later this year. It is the center of conversations in town for the entire contest.

This year’s winner  is a song, Non mi ha fatto niente, You haven’t done anything to me by Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro. You can read about the politically inspired song here.

There are always some sort of problems with San Remo, this year the winning song risked being banned as there was a question of it having been part of a previous edition. The songs presented at San Remo must be new and not performed before the show.