On June 24, during the summer solstice’s night in Parma and its province it is a tradition to celebrate St. John the Evangelist with “tortellate” , gatherings of people in the streets eating “tortelli”, organized by restaurants and trattorias but also from single families. Usually the “tortellate” take place on the evening of the 23rd to greet the solstice and wait in the morning to collect the “rozada äd San Zvan”, the dewdrops of St. John , and the menu provides “tordej d’arbetti” (stuffed fresh homemade pasta filled with ricotta chees and green chards) to accompany with fresh Lambrusco or Malvasia. The dewdrops collected during the night of St. John is considered beneficial and miraculous: this ancient belief is linked to the recurrence of the summer solstice and is a mix of pagan and Christian rituals. To collect dewdrops, just leave a cloth outdoors or walk outdoors at the early dawn lights. Dew baths herbs and fruits, improving her healing qualities, and tradition wants to gather nuts that are not yet ripe to prepare nocino, a typical liqueur of Parma and province whose recipe, with numerous variants, is handed over families to generation in generation. A magical night in which divination and culture blend in to create a millennial tradition, respected and celebrated still today in the city and the province.
