Few countries have such a rich folk heritage as Italy. Legend, myths and customs come in hundreds of regional variations-testament to the fact that, until just under 150 years ago, Italy was made of many different countries. But some festive traditions have soared beyond the regional confines to become truly national. La Befana, for example, was originally from central Italy, but now every child from North to South expect the arrival of the old lady bearing gifts on Twelfth Night. Cotechino and zampone are from Emilia Romagna, but, served with lentils, they now make an appearance on tables up and down the peninsula on 31 December to bring abundance and wealth in the new year. Many Italian festive customs and stories blend Roman, Christian, medieval and Renaissance elements-la Befana in particular. But even those of purely religious origins, such as the midnight Christmas Mass, have an emotional appeal that goes well beyond the community of the faithfuls. If it is a true Italian experience you are after these holidays, we recommend that you give at least one of these a try.

Christmas-Messa di Mezzanotte

Story has it the first midnight mass was celebrated by Saint Telesphorus, the eight Pope, in the II century (although historians have serious doubts over this fact, which appears in a medieval book of pope biographies, the Liber Pontificalis). Since then, it spread widely and today, many Catholic and Anglican countries celebrate a midnight Christmas Mass. But you have to be in Italy to enjoy a true Messa di Mezzanotte, family spirit and all. Here, it genuinely starts around midnight (as opposed to the many countries where midnight Mass starts as early as 7pm) and is slightly longer than usual. There is something special about walking through the streets in pitch darkness, warmed up by the momories and flavours of your Christmas Eve dinner, gathering in a dimly-lit courtyard and filing into a candle-lit church at a time when it would be normally shut. Priests wear their finery and choirs sings Christmas songs, sometimes in Latin, among the scents of incense and melting wax. Spiritual and whimsical at the same time, Messa di Mezzanotte really marks, and feels like, the culmination of the Advent. If you only ever go to one mass in your life, make it this one.

New Year’s Eve-Cotechino (o zampone) e lenticchie

Italy has many New Year’s Eve traditions designed to ensure the upcoming year brings prosperity and good fortune. The best known one is to eat lentils on 31 December to attract a steady flow of money during the year to come. Lentils symbolise coins, and custom has it that the more you eat, the more coins you’ll get. But of course, this being Italy, lentils alone would be rather bland, and so they are traditionally served with either cotechino-a rich sausage made with pork meat and rind-or zampone (pig’s trotter stuffed with the same filling as cotechino). Both cotechino and zampone, which should be boiled and served sliced alongside the braised lentils, represent prosperity-cotechino as one of the earliest ways of making full use of the pork, and zampone because it was the lifeline during a food shortage. Story has it that in the Renaissance, Pope Julius II besieged the town of Mirandola and the locals, faced with lack of food and desperate to preserve what little they had, came up with the idea of encasing a mix of pork meat and rind into the pig’s trotters. Zampone was born and, even though the Pope won in the end, the stuffed trotter remained popular with farmers from the area. It later spread to the rest of Italy, and found its apotheosis served with lentils. Just one word of caution though: to profit fully from the luck-bringing properties of cotechino (or zampone) e lenticchie, you must serve them when the clock strucks midnight (even if it means eating them after your dessert).

Twefth Night-Calza della Befana

Italian children are luckier than most. Not only do they get their presents on Christmas Day, they also get their stocking filled with goodies on the Twelfth Night. The stocking, or calza, makes its appearance on the eve of 6 January in Italian households. That night, the Befana-an old, ugly but fundamentally good witch-flies on her broomstick over the country to bring small presents and sweets to children. Entering through the chimney or the door keyhole (she is a witch, after all) she fills the stockings, sweeps the floor and leaves. That’s provided the children have been good, of course-as an Italian folk rhyme puts it, -la Befana vien di notte con le scarpe tutte rotte, con un sacco pien di doni da portare ai bimbi buoni- (the Befana comes at night with broken shoes and a bag full of presents to give to good children). Otherwise, she leaves them a lump of coal-but she must have become soft these days because she often leaves black rock candy instead. Although la Befana has a (tenuous) link with the Christian festivities-legend wants her to be a woman who gave shelter to the Wise Men on their way to see Baby Jesus; she refused to go with them, but then changed their mind and, to atone, she has been bringing presents and sweets to children ever since-its origins are probably much older, and may even be rooted in the Roman rites to honour the goddess Strenia. If so la Befana, with her broken shoes, would have been giving presents to children for more than 2,000 years.