Editing Day of the Dead (section)

===Italy===
In [[Italy]], November 2 is [[All Souls' Day]] and is colloquially known as Day of the Dead or "Giorno dei Morti". While many regional nuances exist, celebrations generally consist of placing flowers at cemeteries and family burial sites and speaking to deceased relatives.<ref name="nationalgeographic.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/exhumation-ceremony-day-dead-history-family |title=Witness historic Day of the Dead rituals in Naples, Italy |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=National Geographic |date=November 20, 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102235329/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/exhumation-ceremony-day-dead-history-family |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some traditions also include lighting a red candle or "lumino" on the window sills at sunset and laying out a table of food for deceased relatives who will come to visit. Like other Day of the Dead traditions around the world, Giorno dei Morti is a day dedicated to honoring the lives of those who have died. Additionally, it is a tradition that teaches children not to be afraid of death.

In [[Sicily]], families celebrate a long-held Day of the Dead tradition called The Festival of the Dead or "Festa dei Morti". On the eve of November 1, La Festa di Ognissanti, or [[All Saints' Day]], older family members act as the "defunti", or spirits of deceased family members, who sneak into the home and hide sweets and gifts for their young descendants to awake to. On the morning of November 2, children begin the day by hunting to find the gifts in shoes or a special wicker basket of the dead called "cannistru dei morti" or "u cannistru", which typically consist of various sweets, small toys, boned-shaped almond flavored cookies called "ossa dei morti", sugar dolls called "pupi di zucchero", and fruit, vegetable, and ghoul shaped [[marzipan]] treats called "[[Frutta martorana]]". The pupi di zucchero, thought to be an [[Arabic]] cultural import, are often found in the shapes of folkloric characters who represent humanized versions of the souls of the dead. Eating the sugar dolls reflects the idea of the individual absorbing the dead and, in doing so, bringing the dead back to life within themselves on November 2. After gifts are shared and breakfast is enjoyed, the whole family will often visit the cemetery or burial site bearing flowers. They will light candles and play amongst the graves to thank the deceased for the gifts, before enjoying a hearty feast. The tradition holds that the spirits of the deceased will remain with the family to enjoy a day of feasting and merriment.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scent-of-sicily.com/news/the-sicilian-way-to-remember-their-loved-ones/ |title=FESTA DEI MORTI: THE SICILIAN WAY TO REMEMBER THEIR LOVED ONES |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Scent of Sicily |language=en-US |archive-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102235323/https://www.scent-of-sicily.com/news/the-sicilian-way-to-remember-their-loved-ones/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Acclaimed Sicilian author [[Andrea Camilleri]] recounts his Giorno dei Morti experience as boy, as well as the negative cultural impact that WWII era American influence had on the long-held tradition.

<span style="font-size:92%; line-height: 1.31em;">{{blockquote|text="Every Sicilian house where there was a little boy was populated with dead familiar to him. Not ghosts with white linzòlo and with the scrunch of chains, mind you, not those that are frightening, but such and as they were seen in the photographs exhibited in the living room, worn, the occasional half smile printed on the face, the good ironed dress in a workmanlike manner, they made no difference with the living. We Nicareddri, before going to bed, put a wicker basket under the bed (the size varied according to the money there was in the family) that at night the dear dead would fill with sweets and gifts that we would find on the 2nd morning upon awakening. After a restless sleep we woke up at dawn to go hunting… Because the dead wanted to play with us, to give us fun, and therefore they didn't put the basket back where they had found it, but went to hide it carefully, we had to look for it… The toys were tin trains, wooden toy cars, rag dolls, wooden cubes that formed landscapes… On November 2nd we returned the visit that the dead had paid us the day before: it was not a ritual, but an affectionate custom. Then, in 1943, with the American soldiers the Christmas tree arrived and slowly, year after year, the dead lost their way to the houses where they were waiting for them, happy and awake until the end, the children or the children of the children… Pity. We had lost the possibility of touching, materially, that thread that binds our personal history to that of those who had preceded us…"
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|author=[[Andrea Camilleri]]
|title=English translation of "The Day That The Dead Lost Their Way Home"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sicilytourist.com/blog/?andrea-camilleri-ci-racconta---il-giorno-dei-morti-in-sicilia- |title=ANDREA CAMILLERI TELLS US: "THE DAY OF THE DEAD IN SICILY" |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=Sicily Tourist |language=it |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104193247/http://www.sicilytourist.com/blog/?andrea-camilleri-ci-racconta---il-giorno-dei-morti-in-sicilia- |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}</span>

Food plays an important part of Italy's day of the dead tradition, with various regional treats being used as offerings to the dead on their journey to the afterlife. In [[Tuscany]] and [[Milan]] the "pane dei morti" or "bread of the dead" is said to be the characteristic offering. In northern [[Apulia]], a wheat growing region, a sweet dish for the Day of the Dead is Colva or "Grains of the Dead". Fave dei morti or "fava beans of the dead" are another dish for the day found widespread through Italy. Ossa dei morti, suitably elongated and frosted "bones of the dead" are sweets found in Apulia and Sicily. In Sicily, families enjoy special day of the dead cakes and cookies that are made into symbolic shapes such as skulls and finger bones. The "sweets of the dead" are a marzipan treats called frutta martorana.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.visititaly.eu/food-and-flavours/the-frutta-martorana-the-typical-sicilian-dessert-for-all-souls--day |title=The Frutta Martorana, the Typical Sicilian Dessert for All Souls' day |access-date=November 2, 2022 |website=Visit Italy |language=en-US |archive-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102235330/https://www.visititaly.eu/food-and-flavours/the-frutta-martorana-the-typical-sicilian-dessert-for-all-souls--day |url-status=live }}</ref> On the night of November 1, Sicilian parents and grandparents traditionally buy Frutta di Martorana to gift to children on November 2.

In addition to visiting their own family members, some people pay respects to those without a family. Some Italians take it upon themselves to adopt centuries-old unclaimed bodies and give them offerings like money or jewelry as a way to ease their pain and ask for favors.<ref name="nationalgeographic.com"/>