Italy gets a national holiday back this year, 800 years after its patron saint died. It falls on a Sunday.
Back after 1977
October 4th is a national holiday again from 2026, timed to the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis's death on October 3rd, 1226.
Born into fabric
His father, Pietro di Bernardone, was a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi who traded in France.
He handed back his clothes
Before the bishop of Assisi, Francis returned his fine clothes to his father, folded, and wore the plainest garment he could find.
Italy kept both
The saint's plainness and the merchant's eye for cloth: simple shapes, quiet colors, beautiful fabric.
From Maria's edit
Plain on the outside, extraordinary in the cloth.