Meaning & use
Ferragosto
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Meanings
proper nounproper
An Italian public holiday on 15 August, when most businesses close and families take trips or go to the beach.
Grammar: Used as a name, so it normally takes no article and is capitalized: We were in Rome for Ferragosto.
Patterns
- be in somewhere for Ferragosto
- spend Ferragosto somewhere
- during Ferragosto
The whole office shuts down for Ferragosto, so don't plan any meetings that week.
We spent Ferragosto on a crowded beach near Rimini with my cousins.
Shops in the city center stay closed during Ferragosto, but the train stations are busy.
noununcountableinformal
The Italian summer holiday period in the middle of August, when cities empty and many people travel.
Grammar: No plural and no article when you mean the period in general: Everyone leaves town for ferragosto.
Patterns
- the August ferragosto
- go away for ferragosto
- the ferragosto exodus
Traffic on the motorways is terrible at the start of the August ferragosto.
Many small restaurants in Milan close for two weeks over ferragosto.
Hotel prices along the coast rise sharply during ferragosto.
Common combinations
- the Ferragosto holiday
- The Ferragosto holiday falls on the same date every year.
- spend Ferragosto with family
- They always spend Ferragosto with family in the mountains.
- the Ferragosto exodus
- Newspapers call the August travel rush the Ferragosto exodus.
- closed for Ferragosto
- Our local bakery is closed for Ferragosto until the 20th.
- Ferragosto lunch
- Her grandmother cooks a huge Ferragosto lunch for everyone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- August bank holiday
- This is the British name for a similar late-summer public holiday, but it falls on a different date and has nothing to do with Italy.
- Assumption
- In religious contexts the day marks the Assumption of Mary; use Assumption when you mean the church festival rather than the Italian national holiday.
- mid-August break
- A general English phrase for time off in August; it describes the same period without naming the Italian holiday.
Word family
- Ferragosto proper noun
- In Italian the word is also used loosely for any summer holiday atmosphere.
Commonly confused: Ferragosto or August? Ferragosto or festival?
Ferragosto vs August
August is simply the month; Ferragosto is the specific Italian holiday on 15 August and the surrounding break.
Ferragosto vs festival
A festival is an event with performances or celebrations; Ferragosto is a public holiday when people rest and travel.
Practice
Which sentence uses Ferragosto correctly?
Choose one answer.
Ferragosto is a named holiday period, so it appears without an article and is not countable: 'during Ferragosto' is correct. Option A wrongly adds 'a', option C treats it as a countable noun, and option D confuses it with food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Ferragosto”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.