An Italian Halloween

Halloween in Italy, it sounds funny because Halloween is such an American holiday but amazingly Sansepolcro delivered a very memorable Halloween. I have been volunteering in the elementary schools helping the children learn English. Three of the girls here, including myself, have elementary children so all of the girls here decided to throw a Halloween party in the palazzo. After spending the entire evening Saturday and Sunday afternoon decorating, the palazzo was ready for the two hundred children we invited. There were paper bats hanging in the hallways, tombstones, pumpkins, and all sorts of festive orange and black decorations. We all tried to have some sort of costume; I ended up being a cat, including a nose, whiskers, and ears.

Even though the party was not supposed to start until six, the children started to pour in at 5:45. From that point on it was crazy. Children were running around in costumes and the parents sat and watched the madness unfold. Luckily we had planned multiple activities including our personal favorites from past Halloweens and fall festivals, these including pasta necklaces, leaf rubbings, coloring, cookie decorating, and of course trick-or-treating. Once the children were under some kind of control (children having fun are never truly under control). I had several parents come up to me and say how nice it was to invite all the children. Hopefully the children of Sansepolcro were able to have a small taste of Halloween and enjoy the night.

After the party finished at a little after eight (it was supposed to end at seven thirty, but Italians have a different view of time than Americans). I went with three other girls to Citta di Castello a neighboring town in Umbria about thirty minutes away from Sansepolcro to go to the discotecca, or the Italian club. Once we got off the bus we realized we had no idea where we were in Citta di Castello or where we were supposed to go. To make matters worse teenagers where throwing firecrackers into the street, and several came very close to our feet. We asked for direction and were told we were going the wrong direction and were extremely far away. After walking the right direction I asked a nice looking couple to make sure we were headed in the right direction. They looked at us in our dresses and heels and told us they would take us. We were at first hesitant but the man was a member of the Carabinieri, or Italian police force so we decided if we could trust anyone it would be this couple.

It turned out the couple had a son about our age, also in the carabinieri, who was going to the discotecca. They dropped us off at a pub to meet their son and his friends. They all turned out to be extremely nice and welcoming to us lost American girls. After two hours with our new friends we finally made it to the discotecca. In all, it was my best Halloween so far. I was able to teach the children about Halloween, meet new Italians, and dance into the wee hours of the morning; the perfect combination!