Insider’s Italy and Acqua di San Giovanni
The minute tonight’s sun had set, I bolted off to collect a single flower from a list of beautiful wildflowers that I have been eyeing for some time. All grow near my home. Tradition cannot be broken; only when the sun has set may you gather.
First to the St. John’s Wort, and then following a little treasure map I had made for myself: to the poppy, elderflower, mallow, red campion, barbarea, clover, dandelion. I sprinted back to my terrace, where generous pelargonium gave up their flowers in pink, red, white. A sprig of each helichrysum, lemon verbena, white and purple lavender and small leaf mint. All were arranged, with the evening light waning, in a large white bowl. I poured water on and around them and took the bowl out the terrace.
And this is my 2024 Acqua di San Giovanni (Water of Saint John) made tonight, between the 23rd and 24th of June.
Friends have been sending me photos of theirs’. Ilaria, in the countryside near Siena, has made hers with cardoon thistle and brilliant yellow broom. Our truffle dog’s first truffling teacher, outside Rome, gathered a fragrant potpourri of foraged herbs and blossom. For good luck, she also floated in the Acqua a nice slice of summer truffle. As happens annually, my Facebook group “Erbe Selvatiche d’Italia” (Wildflowers of Italy) went berserk this evening, with participants countrywide posting photos of their own exuberant versions, and often helpful lists of all of the components, both the common name and the Latin one.
The saint’s day is June 24, but the occasion is ancient, pre-Christian, and still observed by some Italians in every region of Italy. The tradition is based on the observation of the summer solstice, and the belief that plants at that time hold their greatest energy and fecundity. These elements are thought to be charged with powerful protective powers that will ward off any ill spirits and misadventure. Some say 24 varieties, others say 100, some say that only women must do the gathering. I know no one who keeps to any of these rules. Yet everyone agrees that the little harvest must be covered with water and put to soak outdoors overnight, ensuring that the dew of the night of Saint John enters the water. The next day upon awakening, everyone in the family must wash their hands and faces with the Acqua di San Giovanni. Babies can be immersed in it. I wash my dog’s face with it, and he usually drinks a few slurps of it too.
Traditions. All over Italy, traditions are shared and reinterpreted.
2023 Acqua di San Giovanni
Every year I look forward to this tradition. Wherever I am, it is a wonderful time to take stock of the magnificence and variety of what is growing around me. Everyone in Italy who makes Acqua di San Giovanni has their own distinct selection — some, like Ilaria’s, filled with richly fragrant yellow broom, some with medicinal herbs, some (in cooler climates) rich in poppies, others heavy with roses or mallow.
Italy, a country smaller than New Mexico, offers a cornucopia of variety.
For 35 years, my family company Insider’s Italy has planned remarkable personal trips for travelers, opening doors to experiences impossible to find on your own. No one trip is ever the same as another.
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2022 Acqua di San Giovanni
Ilaria wished me a good night, and I knew that as she wrote me, she was admiring her own Acqua di San Giovanni.
And then : “Lo sai che l’Acqua porta fortuna, vero ?”, Ilaria said. “You know that the Acqua brings good fortune, don’t you ?”
Piano Grande, Umbria, June 23 2013
Of course I did. May my Acqua, and may yours, bring you soon to my Insider’s Italy.
Marjorie