section_path: Culture/Public holidays, festivals and folklore
section_name: Public holidays, festivals and folklore
paragraph_text: Public holidays, festivals and folklore
  
  Public holidays include religious, national, and regional observances. Italy's National Day, the Festa della Repubblica ('Republic Day'), is celebrated on 2 June, with the main celebration taking place in Rome, and commemorates the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946. The ceremony includes deposition of a wreath as a tribute to the Italian Unknown Soldier and a military parade along Via dei Fori Imperiali in Rome.
  
  Saint Lucy's Day, on 13 December, is popular among children in some Italian regions, where she plays a role similar to Santa Claus. The Epiphany is associated with the folklore figure of Befana, a broomstick-riding old woman who, on the night of 5 January, brings good children gifts, and bad ones charcoal or bags of ashes. The Assumption of Mary coincides with Ferragosto on 15 August, the summer vacation period. The Italian national patronal day, on 4 October, celebrates Saints Francis and Catherine. Each city or town also celebrates a public holiday on the festival of the local patron saint.
  
  Festivals and festivities include: the Palio di Siena horse race, Holy Week rites, Saracen Joust of Arezzo, and the calcio storico fiorentino. In 2013, UNESCO included among the intangible cultural heritage Italian festivals and pasos, such as the Varia di Palmi, the Macchina di Santa Rosa in Viterbo, and faradda di li candareri in Sassari. Other festivals include carnivals in Venice, Viareggio, Satriano di Lucania, Mamoiada, and Ivrea. The Venice Film Festival, awarding the Golden Lion and held since 1932, is the oldest in the world and one of the "Big Three" European film festivals, alongside Cannes and Berlin.