What Ferragosto in Italy Really Means (2026 Guide)

Ferragosto, and more generally the way Italy behaves during this month, is probably one of the biggest culture shocks for expats. “Wait, an entire month where everything just closes?”, “Which services are even open right now?”, e “What do Italians actually do with themselves?” are some of the questions you send us most.

It matters whether you’ve already moved here or you’re still planning the move, because waiting times for pretty much everything, as you’d imagine, stretch out during this period.

What Ferragosto actually is

Italians celebrate Ferragosto every year on the 15th of August, the day that marks the Assumption of Mary in the Catholic calendar. But for pretty much everyone, it really means just one thing: switching off, whether that’s by the sea, on a lake, or up in the mountains.

So how did it actually become a holiday? The name comes from Feriae Augusti, “the festivals of Augustus,” a holiday the emperor introduced in 18 BC to give agricoltori e labourers a proper rest once the fields had finally gone quiet at the end of the harvest. As part of the celebrations, horse races were held across the empire, and oxen, donkeys and mules, worked hard all summer hauling carts, were decorated with flowers and let off duty too. Centuries later, the Catholic Church moved the date from the 1st of August to the 15th so it would land on the Assumption of Mary, and that’s the date that’s stuck ever since, even if what people are actually celebrating today has very little to do with either Augustus or Mary. And these days, Ferragosto isn’t really just one day either: it’s more of a mood that spreads across the whole month, until the country properly “reopens” in September.

What’s actually closed, and what isn’t

August is a very slow month in Italy. Plenty of companies close for the whole thing, and most Italians are away on holiday. But it isn’t all closed, it really depends on the kind of business you’re dealing with.

A transport company, for example, is very likely to be shut: with manufacturing plants, warehouses and suppliers all closing for the holidays too, there’s simply less to move around, and it’s not worth keeping trucks on the road for it. So if you’re planning a move and need to shift your things, this genuinely isn’t the month for it. The same goes for construction: most sites slow down or stop completely, though larger projects sometimes carry on with a skeleton crew.

Ristoranti are a different story, especially in touristy spots, since this is exactly when they’re busiest, so most only close for a handful of days around the 15th, if at all. Other everyday small businesses, hairdressers, dentists, notaries, plumbers, tend to do the opposite: many put a sign on the door with two dates on it and disappear for anywhere from ten days to three weeks, simply because their usual clients are away too.

Government offices, post offices, banks and schools (closed anyway in August) all shut for the holiday itself and run on skeleton staff for a week or two either side. If you need something signed, stamped or filed at the comune, don’t try between roughly the first and third week of August. You’ll be told, sometimes cheerfully, to come back in September.

What stays open on the 15th: hospitals and emergency services, obviously. Big supermarket chains e farmacie keep at least reduced hours, and pharmacies rotate a duty roster, the farmacia di turno, so there’s always one open nearby even when the rest of the street is shuttered. Outside of that one day, don’t worry, everything else runs pretty much as normal throughout August.

If you’re already here and don’t know what to do

On Ferragosto, most Italians get together with friends for a barbecue. Whether it’s at home, up in the hills, or down at the beach, the fun part is you head out with your group and somehow always end up surrounded by dozens of other people who picked the exact same spot to grill.

If you happen to be in Italy right now, or you’re planning to visit for the occasion, here are a few ideas on what you can do, whether you’re up north, in the centre, or down south.

If you’re up nord, one of the many lakes is a great option, especially since a lot of them put on fireworks in the evening. Beyond the obvious ones, like Como or Maggiore, if you’re in the area, I’d really recommend Lago d'Orta. It’s still fairly under the radar, ideal if you’re after something quieter. Pair it with a visit to Orta itself, a tiny, classically Italian little town full of small restaurants and spots for an aperitivo, then maybe rent a kayak or a SUP and paddle around the lake. If that’s your thing, Lago Garda organises plenty of similar activities too, sunset SUP sessions, yoga on the water, that sort of thing. For something even calmer, head to the Dolomiti: grab lunch at a rifugio (check opening times for the area first), or just pack a picnic and spend the day hiking trails surrounded by nature. Personally, I love the Recoaro Mille area for this, so it’s worth the trip.

In the centre, this is Palio dell’Assunta territory: Siena runs the August edition of its bareback horse race around Piazza del Campo on the 16th, the day after Ferragosto, worth the detour if you’re anywhere near southern Tuscany. If you’d rather skip the coast altogether, the hill villages of the Val d’Orcia or Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo stay properly calm even in mid-August, and it’s the same areas where you’ll find rafting, canyoning or a paraglide off a hillside, alongside sagre built around a single dish: pici al tartufo in Tuscany, strangozzi al tartufo nero in Umbria. If you already have places in mind for this period, check their website for any sagre happening while you’re there – they’re usually listed.

In the sud and on the islands, Ferragosto is really a beach thing. Wherever you are, Sicily, Puglia, Calabria, Sardinia, you’ll find the same pattern: people show up at the beach in the afternoon, stay there, and turn it into an all-night affair, with music and fireworks going until sunrise. If you’re after a big event with live music, I’d really recommend the Red Valley Festival in Olbia, Sardinia. On top of having thousands of gorgeous beaches nearby, from the 13th to the 15th there’ll be a ton of concerts from some of the biggest names in music right now.

Riflessioni finali

I have a love-hate relationship with Ferragosto. Italy in this period definitely slows down, but it’s also very festive. So if you’re planning to move here, this is a time of year worth thinking about carefully. If you’re mid-way through buying a property, don’t expect a notary appointment, a survey, or a signature from anyone in the second half of August. If you’re renovating, your contractor has almost certainly disappeared and will reappear, tanned, sometime in September. If you’re waiting on a permesso di soggiorno or anything else that needs an Italian office to move, budget the whole month as dead time, because chances are that’s exactly what it’ll be.

But if, like some of the subscribers we’ve spoken to recently, this is the month you’ve chosen to explore Italy and figure out where to move to, then, heat aside, it can actually be a great time to soak up a bit of that collective festive mood.