Ferragosto
Sunday Espresso XV.
Hi, I’m Peter, and you’re reading Anywhere Italy.
Our mission is to cover the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip, in person, one at a time. Come along for free, or pay to keep us on the road.
I’m writing this email on the 14th of August, one day before Ferragosto, which, in case you didn’t know, is the peak of tourism in Italy. As with almost anything Italian, this special day, the 15th of August, has roots in the Roman Empire, where it was an emperor-allowed celebration after weeks of hard work in the fields.
Point is: this is the week when Italy hits pause on literally everything. Good luck doing anything other than getting tanned on the beach. Everything stops, nothing gets done. Not just tourists, but the entire country goes on holiday.
Also, this happened on Wednesday, by the way:
We live in Marina di Pietrasanta, which has always been more popular with Italians than with international tourists. So this time of the year, it is absolutely flooded with people. The bicycle road running parallel to the sea is crowded with teens, and I need all my cycling knowledge (which I don't have much of) to make sure there aren’t any accidents.
So, what am I doing this week? I worked a lot. We stay indoors: it’s too humid, too crowded, and too hot anyway. We come out in the evenings, like owls, or some other nocturnal predator.
This means one thing for you, dear reader: more articles.
New articles this week
Since I’m not big on travel during August, I’ve started writing up my older visits, which means mostly Lazio, Umbria, and Calabria. Expect more of that next week. This week, I covered the Trasimeno Lake and its area:
I’ve been doing some research on Italian pop & club culture and realized I’m literally living in the birthplace of all of that, kinda, in Versilia. So, I wrote up what I’ve learned about Italian disco, pop, and clubbing. 200 years of history:
I continued the journey of Italian staples, mostly in liquid form nowadays. This time, the wonderful world of Italian sodas:
Then, as I promised, I wrote about my visit to an Italian sagra. Turns out dolce vita is more likely to be found in small village festivals, which zero tourists visit, than in the Amalfi pictures influencers are trying to sell you. But hey, who’s surprised about this at this point?
Half the country is at the sea this weekend, including, technically, us. Buon Ferragosto, and see you next Sunday.
Peter
Pietrasanta, 16 August 2026
PS: Slightly related to Anywhere Italy as a topic, but I had the opportunity (thanks Matteo!) to publish on ITS Journal on how to save (or not) small Italian towns from emptying out. Bit spicy, bit sarcastic, but came fully from my heart with the highest amount of goodwill:
