--- Season 3 of premieres at 8:00pm on Tuesday 17 May 2022 on SBS Food, or stream it free via SBS on Demand ---
Are you over the Australian cold and rain, and feel yourself longing for brighter days spent lazing in the sun or dining al fresco in the garden? Then why not live like an Italian and celebrate the essence of summer with a Ferragosto feast?
Every year on August 15, Italians relish their summer wind-down with the national holiday, . Joining the date is a celebration that's got everything you can imagine an Italian summer celebration should have: long lunches, street parties, Italian music, sumptuous feasts and time spent, slowly, with family and friends.
Host of SBS show , Silvia Colloca, describes Ferragosto as a “mid-summer feast where everything in Italy stops”. “The country shuts down. Everybody is on holiday. Everybody is with their family,” Colloca explains in episode two of the new series on SBS.
"Ferragosto: a “mid-summer feast where everything in Italy stops”.
“I’ve spent many, many Ferragosto of my life in my mum’s village in Torricella, Italy. You just have to just consume extra food on that day because it invites you to stay at the table for longer and congregate for longer.”
As all of Colloca’s family live in Italy, she decided to celebrate the occasion in Australia with a makeshift Ferragosto festival focused around a home-cooked lunch.
“I have beautiful Italian friends [here in Australia] that are like family. So [as a nod to] Ferragosto this year, I’m going to be hosting them here and we will be cooking a feast.”
Colloca creates a decadent spread that starts with a seafood dish, insalate di mare sette pesci: a seafood salad made of seven types of seafood. It’s a light meal that’s perfect for summer and is commonly eaten in various regions of Italy.
It’s followed by a main course of ragu Genovese. “This tomato-free ragu needs to be slowly cooked for eight hours and then rested in the fridge overnight.”
Food and Ferragosto
Just like Colloca’s home-cooked feast, the food of Ferragosto is meant to reflect the simplicity of Italian summer cuisine. There can be fresh dishes – carpaccio, seafood, antipasto or chicken – summer salads or cooked family favourites like ragu.
However, there’s no ‘one Ferragosto’ dish you should eat. The kind of celebration you have varies family-to-family and region-to-region. Some people go out for Ferragosto while others stay at home to cook and host family. Likened to an Aussie Christmas lunch, anything goes as long as there is good food to eat and people to celebrate with.
Alessandra Apice, manager of in Five Dock, moved to Australia from Napoli in 2016 carrying fond memories of past Ferragosto celebrations.
“Families often go to the beach, have a picnic or barbecue on Ferragosto in Italy,” Apice tells SBS. “If we go to the beach, we’d bring panini to eat. Or, if we have a picnic, we’ll eat pasta salad, bruschetta and other summer dishes. If we choose to have a barbecue, we might have sausages, Italian-cut pork ribs, steak, fish or calamari.”
Family and festas
Ferragosto is also recognised as an important Italian religious festivity, coinciding with the Catholic Feast of The Assumption. For the Italians, one celebration does not exist without the other - both summer and religion are held in high importance and are therefore both commemorated on August 15.
“There are always religious processions going on around town to celebrate the feast day, followed by a festa in the street that goes on into the late evening. There’s music and street food. You will find cafes and restaurants open late at night. Ferragosto is a very good excuse to celebrate life.”
Ferragosto is a very good excuse to celebrate life.
Each year, Sydney’s Five Dock plays host to a similar festa that pays homage to the Italian national holiday and cultural traditions that generations of Italian migrants have brought to Australia.
This year, the Five Dock festa will open just like a traditional Italian festa would: with a religious procession. It will then be followed by a full day of activities for people of all ages, religious beliefs and cultures. There’ll be entertainment, rides and Italian food stalls boasting pasta, pizza and traditional sweets like cannoli.
Canada Bay Council’s deputy mayor, , tells SBS she’s celebrated Ferragosto by attending the every year since she was a child. That’s why the festival always revives a sense of cultural nostalgia. She says the music and the taste of the food bought from the food stalls always reminds her of family.
“My grandparents used to talk about the festas in Italy, and how important it was that we preserve traditions,” Di Pasqua says. “So I feel it’s really important that we preserve Italian culture and continue to celebrate Ferragosto every year. That’s why in August, we always enjoy ourselves, eat Italian food, have fun and come together.”
Gather, eat an Italian meal and cherish your time together.
Di Pasqua adds that even though in Italy, Ferragosto symbolises the start of the summer slowdown, Australians can still celebrate it in winter.
“The meaning behind Ferragosto will still be the same. The day is meant to be a reminder that, sometimes in life, you’ve got to slow down and enjoy the things that matter. Cherish the people around you be grateful for what you have.
“If you can’t get to the Ferragosto festival in Five Dock, all you have to do to celebrate is spend time with your family and friends or friends who are like family. Gather, eat an Italian meal and cherish your time together.”
