good friday italy

Anyone know if I were to be in the italian countryside during Good
Friday, would I have trouble with places being closed?

On Tue, 4 Nov 2003, Arthur Krassenstein wrote:

Anyone know if I were to be in the italian countryside during Good
Friday, would I have trouble with places being closed?

Hmm ... I had to check on google what you meant by "Good" Friday, it's
actually strange http://www.kencollins.com/Question-11.htm.

(I thought you might be referring to some Carnival day, but we have
according to places special days on tuesday, thursday and saturday, but
they are all "Fat" days : martedi' grasso, giovedi' grasso, sabato
grasso).

So I learnt you mean Friday before Easter, which we call "Holy Friday"
(venerdi' santo).

Anyhow it is NOT a national holiday (although schools may be closed at
least since preceding thursday) and therefore you are likely to find
shops and offices doing business as usual (although I can't imagine what
kinds of "places" you might be looking in the "countryside"). Only
schools will be closed. Churches will be open, but might be dark, and
there might not be ordinary celebrations (i.e. masses ; same may apply
to the following saturday, depends on rites, in the Ambrosian rite it's
an a-lyturgic day) ... but I guess at 15:00 you might have a via Crucis.

Beware instead that the Monday following Easter (Lunedi' dell'Angelo, o
"Pasquetta") IS instead a national holiday. Since it is a popular day
for outdoors picnics, you may find restaurants, bars and shops in
tourist places open. You should instead check carefully about museums
(Monday is normally a closing day, but when a Monday is also an holiday
and follows another holiday there are special, different, confusing
rules).

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Thank you for the information.
We will be in Italy from Palm Sunday until the Saturday before Easter
and are planning to leave Venice on Wednesday or Thursday and drive
through the Veneto Plain to Lake Garda and the Valpolicella wine area so
want to be sure wineries, restaurants and shops are open on Friday
between 12 noon and 3pm when we will be driving back toward Venice
through the wine area to fly home.
In the USA many places used to close during those hours on Holy Friday.
You have been very helpful. Thanks again.
Giovanni Drogo wrote:
On Tue, 4 Nov 2003, Arthur Krassenstein wrote:


Anyone know if I were to be in the italian countryside during Good
Friday, would I have trouble with places being closed?


Hmm ... I had to check on google what you meant by "Good" Friday, it's
actually strange http://www.kencollins.com/Question-11.htm.

(I thought you might be referring to some Carnival day, but we have
according to places special days on tuesday, thursday and saturday, but
they are all "Fat" days : martedi' grasso, giovedi' grasso, sabato
grasso).

So I learnt you mean Friday before Easter, which we call "Holy Friday"
(venerdi' santo).

Anyhow it is NOT a national holiday (although schools may be closed at
least since preceding thursday) and therefore you are likely to find
shops and offices doing business as usual (although I can't imagine what
kinds of "places" you might be looking in the "countryside"). Only
schools will be closed. Churches will be open, but might be dark, and
there might not be ordinary celebrations (i.e. masses ; same may apply
to the following saturday, depends on rites, in the Ambrosian rite it's
an a-lyturgic day) ... but I guess at 15:00 you might have a via Crucis.

Beware instead that the Monday following Easter (Lunedi' dell'Angelo, o
"Pasquetta") IS instead a national holiday. Since it is a popular day
for outdoors picnics, you may find restaurants, bars and shops in
tourist places open. You should instead check carefully about museums
(Monday is normally a closing day, but when a Monday is also an holiday
and follows another holiday there are special, different, confusing
rules).

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 03:35:42 GMT, Arthur Krassenstein wrote:


Anyone know if I were to be in the italian countryside during Good
Friday, would I have trouble with places being closed?


Probably not - Italy is mainly catholic and Good friday is an evangelical
feast.

It's that way in Austria too, Good Friday is not a public holiday (only
registered protestants get the day off normally).


Sorry, I sent this before but it didn't appear on my server - apologies if
it came twice.
--
Tim.

If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would
be so simple that we couldn't.

"Tim Challenger" "timothy(dot)challenger(at)apk(dot)at" wrote in message
s.com...
On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 03:35:42 GMT, Arthur Krassenstein wrote:


Anyone know if I were to be in the italian countryside during Good
Friday, would I have trouble with places being closed?


Probably not - Italy is mainly catholic and Good friday is an evangelical
feast.

Uhhh??? It's not a "feast" for any type of Christian, but it is certainly
not ignored by Roman Catholics. The Solemn Liturgy of the Passion and Death
of the Lord takes palce in every RC church, as close to 3 p.m. as pastorally
possible.

It's that way in Austria too, Good Friday is not a public holiday (only
registered protestants get the day off normally).

It may be that the sombre nature of the day makes it appear to some largely
RC countries to make it inappropriate as a holiday. More probably, it has
fallen victim to a cutting back in religious public holidays.

Alan Harrison

On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 10:12:17 +0000 (UTC), Alan Harrison wrote:

Probably not - Italy is mainly catholic and Good friday is an evangelical
feast.

Uhhh??? It's not a "feast" for any type of Christian, but it is certainly
not ignored by Roman Catholics.

I used the word feast in the same sense that it's used for easter, which is
a "moveable feast". It's also not a feast.

I never said it was ignored, i just said it wasn't a holiday normally.
Th OP wanted to know if the shops would be closed.
--
Tim.

If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would
be so simple that we couldn't.