Much of Europe treats Pentecost Monday as an official holiday. So why doesn’t Italy, despite being known as one of the continent's most Catholic countries?
In Austria, Germany, France and Switzerland, Pentecost Monday (also known as Whit Monday) is a day off work.
Disappointingly, here in Italy it isn't. It hasn't been since 1977, when the government of Giulio Andreotti stripped it from the national calendar along with four other religious holidays, including St Joseph's Day and the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.
The official reason for this was productivity. Italy had accumulated nearly 20 national holidays by that point, and trimming the calendar was framed as a modernising measure for a country whose public administration was seen as chronically inefficient (and it seems that some things don't change all that much.)
For those unfamiliar with it, Pentecost Monday is a Catholic holiday commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus.
