\n
<\/p>\n
Italy, like many countries around the world, marks 1 April with harmless pranks for April Fools’ Day, or Pesce d’aprile, which translates as April’s Fish.<\/p>\n
The symbol of the fish is believed to refer to the victim falling easily for the bait – in this case the joke – making them an easy catch for the joker.<\/p>\n
The exact origins of this custom are somewhat murky, with some people linking it to the ancient Roman festival\u00a0of\u00a0Hilaria which involved jesting and playful pranks.<\/p>\n
According to legend, the first to play a prank\u00a0with a fish as the protagonist was the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, who challenged the Roman leader Mark Antony to a fishing contest.<\/p>\n
Terrified by the idea of losing to a woman, he asked a slave to secretly put a fish on his hook.<\/p>\n
Cleopatra, however,\u00a0became aware of\u00a0the\u00a0ruse and\u00a0tricked him by having a huge fake fish covered in crocodile skin placed on his hook.<\/p>\n
April Fool’s Day did not become a custom in Europe until after 1582, the year the Gregorian Calendar went\u00a0into effect following a papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII.<\/p>\n
Among the\u00a0first countries to immediately accept the new calendar was France, where some historians trace the origins of April Fool’s Day.<\/p>\n
Until then, New Year’s Eve was celebrated between 25 March (the old date of the spring equinox) and 1 April.<\/p>\n
Not all French people accepted the change and continued to exchange gifts and celebrate as in the old days.<\/p>\n
Others, to poke fun at them, gave\u00a0them absurd or empty gifts containing only a piece of paper with the words poisson d’Avril (April Fools in French) or invitations to non-existent parties.<\/p>\n
In 1957 the BBC famously fooled viewers with #AprilFoolsDay<\/a> footage of a spaghetti harvest.pic.twitter.com\/Tfiuxlc1g9<\/a>\u2014 Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) April 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n In Italy, however, April Fools’ Day arrived only between 1860 and 1880.<\/p>\n The first city to celebrate it was Genoa, with a common prank involving sticking a paper fish to someone’s back – a\u00a0tradition that continues in Italy to this day.<\/p>\n One of the most famous April Fool’s Day pranks ever involves Italy and dates to 1957.<\/p>\n After the BBC broadcast a Panorama report purportedly showing a “spaghetti harvest” in Switzerland, many viewers called in to find out how to grow a pasta tree in their own garden.<\/p>\n Spaghetti harvest<\/strong><\/h3>\n