| Hello everyone, welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. |
| My name is Desy. |
| Mi chiamo Desy. |
| And in this video, we're going to talk about what happens in Italy during April. |
| Aprile in Italia |
| Aprile is April, so the fourth month of the year. |
| And it starts with an event already, right? |
| The first of April is April's Fool, which in Italian is called Pesce d'Aprile. |
| Pesce d'Aprile, so fish of April, April's fish. |
| Now, there are different theories on why it's called like that. |
| One of those says that it refers to people that went fishing in the first days of April |
| and couldn't find anything. |
| And that's why when they came back, people would make fun of them and ask them about the fish |
| and being like, where is April's fish? |
| But that's just a theory, probably because we cannot really find why it's called like that. |
| And as for the reason why it's done, you probably know that even worldwide, |
| it's also not well defined. |
| But one of the most famous theories says that that's because before the Roman calendar, |
| so with the Gregorian's calendar, New Year's was between March and April. |
| And when they changed, people could not really adjust to that or figure that out. |
| So they still gave presents. |
| So people that wanted to make fun of them for not adjusting to the times |
| gave them empty presents. |
| And that's like where the pranks come from. |
| But again, nothing is 100% sure. |
| Anyway, what it's usual in Italy, it's not really a big thing. |
| The news or stuff like that, maybe just recently because they try to imitate USA and so on. |
| But what we do is, especially in schools, kids stick a paper on the back of their mates |
| with Pesce d'April, either being just written down or in the shape of a fish. |
| And yeah, that's fun because you're made fun of. |
| People around you are not supposed to tell you how it goes. |
| Then the next event would be Easter. |
| And they say it would be because we don't know the exact date every time, right? |
| Because it's a flexible holiday, not as inflexible like we decide when it is. |
| But it depends on the moon and equinox and the religious thing, right? |
| So before Easter, actually one week before, there is La Domenica delle Palme. |
| La Domenica delle Palme. |
| When it's common for people, especially if they're religious, to give each other small |
| and short branches, not really a branch, but you know, a short part, piece of palm. |
| And that's because in the past, Jesus was welcomed by people waving what they could |
| find in fields and so on, so in Jerusalem. |
| And it was palms. |
| Then yeah, we have Easter, Pasqua. |
| We call it Pasqua Bassa when it comes early and Pasqua Alta when it comes later. |
| There are many symbols for Easter and of course it all revolves around food. |
| But yeah, there's l'uovo di Pasqua, so Easter egg, which is usually made of chocolate and |
| it has a surprise inside, una sorpresa. |
| There are different brands, like countless at this point, and it comes from the fact |
| that it reminds the empty cave where Jesus was not found. |
| Really common are eggs in all shapes and forms. |
| Especially there is also la Pasqualina, which is like a salty cake, a quiche, |
| we could even call it, which is usually made with pineapple and ricotta cheese and eggs. |
| Sometimes there are different cheese, it really depends on the region. |
| In fact, some regions also have pizza di Pasqua, more like a salty cake than a pizza, again. |
| Another important symbol is the lamb, so l'agnello, and it's common to eat that |
| and it represents the sacrifice of Jesus. |
| As we eat beside the chocolate, there is also la colomba, which is a sweet dessert like a cake. |
| I would say it's the Easter version of the panettone, if you remember that from Christmas, |
| and the shape remembers the one of a dove, colomba, and that's why it's called colomba, |
| dove in Italian. |
| Then what happens the day after Easter is Pasquetta, literally small cute Pasqua. |
| It's always on a Monday and it's always a holiday because you can go and have a gita |
| fuori porta, so outside of the door trip. |
| It's like one day trip where you go outside with your friends or family and have a picnic |
| and usually also a barbecue. |
| So you grill meat and that's called grigliata, grigliata. |
| Di solito faccio la grigliata di Pasquetta con gli amici. |
| Usually I have Pasquetta's grill, Pasquetta's barbecue with friends, |
| because it's common to grill on Pasquetta, so la grigliata di Pasquetta. |
| There's also a saying that goes like Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi, |
| even though it's not really true because you can apply that to anything that rhymes, |
| but yeah, Christmas with yours, relatives, and Pasqua and Easter with who you want. |
| Moving towards the end of the month, on the 25th, we have la celebrazione della liberazione |
| or la festa della liberazione. |
| So the celebration or the holiday of liberation, literally. |
| And that's to celebrate what happened back in 1945. |
| On that day, Italy became free from the Nazi fascist invasion. |
| So it was the last day of fascism in Italy and every year to commemorate this time, |
| the President of the Republic goes to the altar of il milite ignoto, |
| so the unknown soldier, il milite ignoto, to give a crown of flowers as a symbol |
| in order to remember all the people that fought or unfortunately died during the war. |
| Around cities, there are marches with, you know, the flag and the three colors of Italy |
| and being it a national holiday, when it happens on Tuesdays or Thursdays, |
| then there is a ponte, so a bridge of holidays, basically, |
| from the weekend to the day of the celebration. |
| And that's also a nice moment to have a gateway because the weather is starting to get warmer. |
| In fact, you get from 10 minimum till 20 degrees in April, usually. |
| So this is a nice time to travel, also because on the 1st of May it's holiday again, |
| so you could also have another bridge or just have a whole week if you take some days off |
| of ponte, of bridge, of holidays, right? |
| Lastly, I want to tell you that the last day of April, the 30th of April, is my birthday. |
| I'm kidding, I mean, it's true, but it's not a big event yet. |
| So yeah, that's basically what happens during April in Italy. |
| I personally think it's a great month to travel around, not only because of holidays, |
| but also because the weather is getting warmer and it's nice to finally be outside. |
| Finally, you can go out without jacket, sometimes, not always. |
| Let me know in the comments if you ever happened to be in Italy during April |
| and if you enjoyed it. |
| Also, remember that you can click the link in the description and download our PDF lessons |
| in order to be able to have real Italian conversations with native speakers. |
| Thank you for watching, I'll see you soon. |
| Bye bye, ciao ciao! |
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