New Year's Eve in Prato della Valle

It's time to ring in a new year. This time we meet 11 in the third millennium after Christ's birth. This is the year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese calendar, which will be coming up soo.

Padua will be having its usual New Year's Eve celebrations, but a bit more subdued. There will be a concert stage with live music and DJs in Prato della Valle by the church Santa Giustina, organized by Radio Company and Radio 80. Festivities will start at 10 p.m. Fireworks and a light show will be put on by Parente Fireworks at midnight. Click here for their demo, including an excerpt of a Padua past display at the 1 minute mark. Since the city of Padua decided to shift two-thirds of the fireworks funding to the recent flood victims in the Veneto region, the pirotecnico display will most likely be more simplified and/or shorter than usual.

Funds will be raised that night for the "Save Guinea" cause.

All is free and open to the public.

Hopefully it won't be too cold to have fun!

For more information, go to Radio Company.

Fireworks Mix-up

One of my colleagues politely corrected me. The fireworks on Saturday night that were blasting at the same time people were honking their car horns actually belonged to the Padua Fairground's Campionaria finale. It is supposedly a tradition that this regional fair extravaganza has a fireworks display. This year had that event coincide with the Inter victory, which was also broadcast on large screen TVs on the fairgrounds, as publicizied by the Campionaria website.

This year's Campionaria dates were from 15-23 May. It's an interesting annual mix of food stands, scarf kiosks, ethnic clothing, alternative TV shirts, horse and dog shows, furniture displays and used car and motorcycle dealership displays. You'd marvel at how many people flock to this event which is open until midnight for the duration of the fair.

This year my husband came away with a great leather jacket from the same people who sold me a great one 2 years ago. And there was the mandatory stop at the Vecchio Birraio, a quality local brew company from the northern part of the province.

Buon Anno!

Happy New Year!

Tonight's the night for fireworks in Prato della Valle, if it doesn't get rained out.

I won't be in town for it but here is a photo from a former pyrotechnic display in town.

Photo from gad_jet's flickr photostream.