1. As in the other countries also in Italy we celebrate

2. History and origin of the feast According to the Christian's tradition Easter is considered the most important feast because it celebrates Christ's passion and resurrection. The celebrating day is the first Sunday after forty days of Lent. Easter is preceded by a period of repentance and by many processions, and the most important is called ''Via Crucis''.

3. Some traditions of Easter Easter is a feast full of simbols and traditional dishes. The most important are: the chocolate egg the dove, a traditional cake made with flour, eggs, sugar, natural yeast and butter. The name refers to the animal which is the simbol of the Holy Spirit. the lamb, usually eaten during the Easter lunch, which represents the sacrifice of Jesus.

4. Traditional feasts in Pistoia The joust of the bear (Giostra dell'orso) The joust of the bear (Giostra dell'orso) 25th of July 25th of July Feast of S.Bartolomeo Feast of S.Bartolomeo 24th of August 24th of August

5. The joust of the bear White deer Dragon,Griffon Golden Lion This event is celebrated on the St. Jacob's (our counsel) day and it consists in a competition among four districts: White deer (Cervobianco), Dragon, Griffon (Grifone) and Golden Lion (Leon d'oro). Each district represents one of the four areas of Pistoia. These areas correspond to the four gates of the ancien city: Porta al Borgo, Porta Lucchese, Porta San Marco and Porta Carratica. History History In this competition there are several sessions and in each of them there are two cavaliers. The aim of the cavalier is to try to hit the wood bear's arm faster than his opponent riding a horse around a circular racecourse. The district which gets the higher number of points is the winner.

6. White deer White deer Dragon Dragon Golden lion Golden lion Griffon Griffon

7. Feast of Saint Bartolomeo ''Corona of S.Bartolomeo''. It's a traditional religious feast of Pistoia in which people use to go to the church in order to bless themselves with the oil in S.Bartolomeo's church. Besides in the square front of the church there are many stalls where you can find toys and typical sweets like the ''Corona of S.Bartolomeo''.

8. ...but for us, young people, the coolest event of our city is...

9. What is it?! It's the most famous music festival celebrated in our city. It started in 1980 and it always takes place in july. It is internationally known and many popular artists take part every year in it: B.B. King, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Lenny Kravitz and Skunk Anansie. It is really loved also because streets are full of stalls and people enjoy themselves all together. The typical drink of this festival is the spanish sangria.