Valentine’s Day was initially celebrated as a Spring Festival in Italy. Celebration for the day was held in the open air. Young people would gather in tree arbors or ornamental gardens and enjoy listening to music and reading of poetry. Later they would stroll off with their Valentine into the gardens. The custom steadily ceased over the course of years and has not been celebrated for centuries.

The celebration of Valentine’s Day in Italy is actually an imported holiday from the American tradition, just like Halloween which was never originally an Italian tradition but is celebrated today. It is a holiday for romantic couples and children do not exchange Valentine cards as they do in the United States.

In the Roman Empire February 14 was a holiday on  to celebrate the Queen of Roman gods and goddesses. The ancient Romans also considered this queen named Juno to be the goddess Queen of Women and Marriage.

This Valentine’s, lets celebrate L’amore with a romantic meal at Trattoria al Giardino. Express your love with an authentic Italian experience. That’s amore.