sunday night we went to festa della rificolona (paper lantern festival). my roommate’s mom had told us about it and we decided that we definitely wanted to go. we weren’t really sure what to expect. would we light lanterns? would this be a parade of some sort? we decided to find out.

   

we walked over to the piazza santissima annuziata where the event takes place and realized we may have been a bit early. there were scattered clumps of couples and families strolling around and vendors were beginning to set up stands with candies and treats. we went a few blocks down to get gelato and by the time we were back there was a crowd. kids were running around holding paper lanterns that they had decorated differently. we saw so many cute ones! angry birds, a lantern fish, olaf from frozen, and even the duomo.

   

the ceremony began about an hour after we arrived. it was all in italian but it was very apparent that this was a big event. following the speeches we followed the line of authorities (not sure if we were allowed to do this… oops) into the church in the piazza. here there was a prayer, we had front row view (also not sure if we had permission to do this).

  

we got cotton candy, or zucchero filato in italian from a very kind italian woman. seeing all these families unite for a special evening made us all kind of homesick. so on our way home, we stopped at the mcdonalds down the block and indulged in an unhealthy, yet very american treat.