We have a lovely tradition in Italy called "ponte", literally "bridge", which consists in taking any given national holiday (Labour day, 'Liberazione', the anniversary of our Republic…), which usually is just 24 hours long, and transforming it into a long weekend at the seaside or skiing on the Alps.
This weekend is one of those "bridges", everyone in town is asking around if friends are going to "fare il ponte", do the bridge, i.e. leave Thursday and return to the office the following Tuesday.

Multiply this by every time there is a holiday of any sort in Italy (and it's a lot - patron saints don't help) and that makes up for just too many bridges.

(I can't think of a better time to suggest this great summery house track by Zimmer straight out from his recent release "Horizontal Disco" - can you feel the summer approaching?) 

Zimmer - Bay Bridge

That's why last summer the government suggested cutting back on all these anniversaries and occasions…but who is going to be, the religious celebrations or the mundane ones? Not to mention there's still a lot of hubbub regarding our recent history in the 20th Century, when we fought what can be regarded as a full out civil war in 1944-45.
Given where we're going with this, I think a lovely tune about holidays in Italy sung in German by an Italian girl is in order. This dates back to 1956. No one sung about holidays in Italy in the '40s unfortunately.

Caterina Valente - Komm' ein bisschen mit nach Italien

In '56 things were already a lot different: Italians and most of the "western" world was re-discovering the pleasure of actually being able to go on holiday. And across the Atlantic, a young lad was horrifying mothers with his audacious hip movements.

Elvis Hounddog

 Written by Andrea Ratti

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