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Corpus Christi in Italy

I'm sketching out our hoped-for spring/early summer 2022 trip to Europe. I have hotels booked, but have not yet bought plane tickets. I had planned for us to return to the States from Bologna (or possibly Rome) on June 16. However, a glance at a more comprehensive calendar informs me that June 16, 2022, is the feast of Corpus Christi, or Corpus Domini in Italian.

I have two questions. First, will it be a problem traveling on that date? I ask because some years ago we were traveling in Spain, and traveled from one city to another on Corpus Christi. What a mess! The city bus schedules in the town to which we were traveling were totally different from what we thought they would be, leading us to miss our destination by several miles!

In addition, when we originally planned our Italian trip (back in 2020) we had tried to schedule a train journey between cities on what turned out to be a national holiday, and the trains and buses were running on a seriously reduced schedule. We could, if necessary, shorten our trip by one day and leave for home on June 15, instead.

My second question: I know Corpus Christi is a big deal in Orvieto, but is that true in other parts of the country? Would it be worth extending our already long trip to observe the festivities? I am a practicing Catholic, if that makes a difference to your response.

Thank you.

Posted by
3812 posts

Jane, I had to Google "Corpus Domini" to discover what you are talking about. And I spent 3 years in a Catholic School.

For sure June 16 is not a national holyday in Italy. June 2 is.

Posted by
44 posts

No, Corpus domini is not a national holiday in Italy, so everything runs as a normal day, public transportation included.
In some villages, like Orvieto, processions take place, but these celebrations are not so common in the country compared to other more important events such as Easter or good Friday processions.

Posted by
77 posts

The Feast of Corpus Christi is beautiful in Spello. I was there for Le Infiorate in 2016. The streets are paved with religious designs constructed of flower petals and other "ingredients" from the world of nature. All the designs are created/constructed by community groups. Following a mass, there is a religious procession through these same streets. I can't imagine there's anything like it in the U.S. Since you will be so close, both geographically and by the calendar, why not make a plan to take it in.

Posted by
6576 posts

When we did the RS Barcelona/Madrid tour some years ago, we arrived a few days early (as usual) and were in Barcelona on Pentecost. Oh. My. God. Talk about serendipity! We walked down to the Cathedral just so I could check to see what time Mass was on Sunday morning, and walked into the most amazing celebration, with music, sardana dancers, gigantes (giant puppets) and human towers. The cathedral square was packed with revelers.

Then that Sunday while I was at Mass, Stan was enchanted by the sardana music and dancers. What a wonderful weekend that was! I'd be up for anything remotely as good in Italy.

So Brenda, I may well do that.

And thanks for those that said it isn't a national holiday. The trip we were planning in 2020 had us going from Naples to Siena on June 2, and transportation was cut by at least 75%.

Posted by
3812 posts

In 2020, 25% of transportation was cut because of the National holyday and 50% because of Covid. More than that if your trip started from the Amalfi Coast and not from Naples. Let's hope things will have improved in 2022!

On December 13, 2021 go on railway companies' sites and put as day of travel any national holyday before June 12, you should see the schedules of all trains running on that day.

Posted by
6576 posts

Thanks, Dario. When we signed up for our 2020 train and bus tickets, it was pre-Covid, but I was certainly surprised at how much the National Holiday affected travel options. That was totally because of my own ignorance, of course. I didn't realize at that time that June 2 was a holiday.

I just checked a website showing Italian holiday observations, and Corpus Christi isn't on it. However, the post I referenced earlier from Spello did say Corpus Christi was celebrated on the Sunday following the actual Thursday religious Holy Day. I'd better check that for 2022, before we make our final decision about what date to return home, and from where.

Thanks everyone, for your input.

Posted by
7924 posts

Interesting to see your question & discussion about this topic since I was spending time this afternoon researching various festivals in Italy in June, and this was one, along with a couple of others, that looked intriguing. My dilemma will be managing how to attend a few with dates close to each other in different parts of Italy by public transportation and be able to arrive/leave when transportation to the city or village is running. Happy to be planning again!