Italian residents enjoy one of the highest numbers of public holidays in Europe – but there’s a catch.
Italy has long been one of Europe’s most generous countries when it comes to public holidays, with residents enjoying 12 festività nazionali since the late 1970s.
But the Italian calendar is set to become even more generous next year, after parliament passed a bill restoring the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi on October 4th as a public holiday.
READ ALSO: Feast of St Francis: Italy reinstates public holiday from 2026
In addition to the nationwide holidays, parts of Italy also have local holidays related to their patron saints (for instance, St Ambrose in Milan, St Mark in Venice, and St John in Florence), which may also mean a day off work for some.
But, as Italians might say, non è tutto oro quel che luccica (all that glitters is not gold).
In Italy, all national holidays are taken on the exact day they fall on that year rather than being moved to the nearest Monday, as is the case in some other Western countries, including the UK.
This means that if a certain holiday falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, there’s no extra day off. It also means that there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ years for holidays, depending on how many of them fall on a weekend.
So what about 2026?
While only two public holidays fell on a weekend in 2025 (All Saints’ Day and Easter, which is always celebrated on a Sunday), residents will forfeit a total of five days off next year: Easter Sunday, Liberation Day, Ferragosto, All Saints’ Day, and St Stephen’s Day.
Here’s the full calendar:
- January 1st, 2026 (New Year’s Day): Thursday
- January 6th, 2026 (Epiphany): Tuesday
- April 5th, 2026 (Easter Sunday): Sunday
- April 6th, 2026 (Easter Monday): Monday
- April 25th, 2026 (Liberation Day): Saturday
- May 1st, 2026 (Labour Day): Friday
- June 2nd, 2026 (Republic Day): Tuesday
- August 15th, 2026 (Ferragosto): Saturday
- November 1st, 2026 (All Saints’ Day): Sunday
- December 8th, 2026 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception): Tuesday
- December 25th, 2026 (Christmas Day): Friday
- December 26th, 2026 (St Stephen’s Day): Saturday
It’s worth noting here that Christmas Eve (December 24th) and New Year’s Eve (December 31st) are not official public holidays in Italy.
However, many employers in the private sector do give their staff both days off as a gesture of goodwill.
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2026 ‘bridges’
Whether or not a certain year is a good one for holidays in Italy also depends on the number of ponti (bridges) available.
Italians use the phrase fare il ponte (literally, ‘to make the bridge’) to refer to the common custom of taking an extra day off work when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday in order to create a four-day weekend.
2026 will give people in Italy four opportunities to do this: New Year’s Day (Thursday, January 1st), Epiphany (Tuesday, January 6th), Republic Day (Tuesday, June 2nd), and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Tuesday, December 8th).
On top of that, three of next year’s public holidays will fall on either a Monday or Friday (Easter Monday, Labour Day, and Christmas Day), giving residents as many three-day weekends.
Italian ‘non-holiday’ holidays
The Italian calendar includes six dates that are considered official national holidays, but don’t give residents a day off.
These are referred to as solennità civili (civil observances) and include the anniversary of Italy’s Unification on March 17th and the National Unity Day on November 4th.
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Besides six civil holidays, Italy also has nearly 30 national and international days of commemoration or celebration, including Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Europe Day (May 9th), and Christopher Columbus Day (October 12th).
As is the case for the solennità civili, none of these will get you a day off.
Paid leave
If you’re an employee in Italy, you’re entitled to paid holiday time, and the very minimum allowance is four weeks (or 20 days) a year.
That said, many Italian contracts, particularly those for state employees, include five weeks (or 25 days) of paid leave per year.
By law, employees must take at least two weeks of paid leave in a row, and all paid leave accumulated over the course of a year must be taken within 18 months from the end of that year.