Celebrated on August 15, the so called Ferragosto may well be considered the height of the Italian summer: many Italians still take their summer vacation around this time, with the cities traditionally emptying and the beaches filling up (at least, until few years ago).

Ferragosto, which today coincides with the Catholic feast of the Assumption of Mary (a Catholic dogma established in 1950 by Pope Pius XII), is a holiday that goes back to Roman emperor Augustus’ times. Several festivals took place during the month of August to celebrate the harvest, and in 18 BC, Augustus himself introduced the “Feriae Augusti” (the festival of emperor Augustus), to connect them all and provide a longer period of rest after the harvest, a time of intense agricultural labor.