New Year's Eve in Italy: lentils for luck, and a Puglia gala with the locals next door

New Year's Eve in Italy is Capodanno: cotechino and lentils at dinner for luck, a flash of red for good fortune, and concerts and fireworks in the main squares. Spice Escapes lets you see it in with company, and without organising any of it, on New Year in Puglia with WingsItaly, a hosted week in Salento for people travelling on their own. The night itself is a private five-course gala, with the locals celebrating in the room next door.

First the customs and the food, then how our week sees the year in.

Capodanno: red for luck, out with the old, and noise at midnight

Italians call New Year Capodanno, and its customs are about luck for the year ahead. Italia.it, the country's official tourism site, traces the habit of wearing red to the Romans under Augustus, who dressed in red at their new year as a sign of prosperity.

Today the red is mostly underwear. Some wear it back to front and turn it round after midnight, others throw it away: out with the old, in with the new.

The same idea once had people in the south throwing old things out of the window, which italia.it says is much rarer now. Fireworks and sparklers mean the same thing, though many cities now ban them. In the main squares, New Year concerts bring music and fireworks.

Salento adds a ritual of its own. Every New Year's Eve, italia.it says, people brave the weather at the Punta Palascia lighthouse at Otranto, the easternmost point of the Italian peninsula, to see the year's first sunrise. It is not on our programme.

The food that brings luck: why lentils follow the cotechino

At the table, the menu runs on superstition. Cotechino and zampone, both made from pork, are the classics, because in Italian tradition pork stands for abundance, fertility and spiritual strength. Cotechino is from northern Italy, where Modena's version has protected status, but it is eaten across the country at this time of year.

• Lentils come with the cotechino as a side, or at the end of the meal on the stroke of midnight. Like everything you can count, they stand for money, a custom italia.it traces to the Roman new year gift of a leather purse of coins.
• Pomegranate, for its many seeds and its red, long a symbol of wealth and good fortune.
• Twelve grapes at midnight, one for each month, a Spanish custom that took hold in Naples and other parts of the south.
• Something sweet: over the festive season Puglia makes fried honey dough such as porcedduzzi and rose-shaped carteddate, and almond paste sweets, including the fish shapes of Lecce.

The gala menu is not published dish by dish, so we cannot promise lentils at midnight.

How our Puglia week does the night: a private gala, with the locals next door

On New Year in Puglia with WingsItaly, New Year's Eve is exclusive to Spice Escapes and WingsItaly guests. It begins with a private aperitivo reception, then a five-course gala dinner with a bottle of wine for each person. Music, dancing and Italian entertainment follow, marking both the Italian and the British midnight traditions.

You have your own dining room and dancing area. In the room next door, the locals hold their own celebration. Last time we saw the year in here, that is what made the evening: guests moving between the two, joining the locals and sharing the fun.

It all happens at Hotel Tesoretto, a four-star hotel decorated for Christmas and New Year, five minutes' walk from the centre of Poggiardo. Spice Escapes and WingsItaly guests have every room, and many who came last time called it one of the best hotels ever. Italia.it describes Poggiardo as a village of courtyard houses a few kilometres from the Salento sea.

The week is 5 nights, 28 Dec 2026 – 2 Jan 2027, from £1,139. See the dates and book online on the New Year in Puglia page.

New Year's Day: a slow morning, a long lunch and a game in the evening

The provisional programme starts the year gently, with a relaxed morning. Late in the morning the group heads out to another town or corner of Puglia, chosen nearer the time to catch local festivities, for a traditional Italian New Year's Day lunch of regional dishes and local wines. Back at the hotel, the evening is light-hearted, built around a lively Italian game.

Arriving on your own: met at the airport, and friends made before the big night

Most people on our holidays book on their own. Groups are around fifteen people, and some reach twenty. Your host, Claire Dymond, and Andrea Dal Moro meet you at the airport and stay with the group, and a private transfer takes you to the hotel.

The first evening is a welcome aperitivo and a dinner of Puglian food and local wine, so by New Year's Eve you are sitting down with people you already know. The next day is a short transfer to Lecce, its Baroque churches lit up for Christmas.

If this is your first group holiday on your own, our page for first-time solo travellers is written for you. Our holidays in Italy, culture and discovery holidays and over-50s solo holidays cover the rest of the year.

If that week will not work: Prague before Christmas, or the Canaries after New Year

Prague Christmas Magic is a city break of 3 nights in the Czech Republic, 4 Dec 2026 – 7 Dec 2026, from £675, with Sally Wiltshire as host throughout. The hotel is central, so the Old Town Square Christmas market is minutes away, and one day takes in Prague Castle and Malá Strana.

All Inclusive Fuerteventura Winter Sun & Fun starts the year in the sun instead: 7 nights, 30 Jan 2027 – 6 Feb 2027, from £1,199, hosted by Steve Dell. All meals and drinks are included at the adults-only hotel by Jandía Beach. Places now: 3 places left.

Our round-up of Christmas and New Year breaks covers the rest of the festive season.

Questions people ask

What do Italians eat on New Year's Eve?

Cotechino or zampone with lentils is the classic, because the pork stands for abundance and the lentils, which can be counted like coins, for money in the year ahead. Some families serve the lentils at the stroke of midnight, and in Naples and parts of the south people eat twelve grapes, one for each month.

Is the New Year's Eve gala just for our group?

Yes. The aperitivo, the five-course dinner and the dancing are in a private dining room and dancing area for Spice Escapes and WingsItaly guests. A local celebration runs in the room next door, and guests are free to join it.

Do I need to speak Italian?

No. The hosts are with the group from the airport onwards, so the arranging is done for you. A few words help at the party next door, and our guide to essential Italian phrases covers the basics.

Can I have a room to myself?

Yes. A room to yourself carries a single supplement, shown in the pricing table on the holiday page. Our single supplement page explains how it works.

See the dates and book New Year in Puglia online

See the dates and book online on the New Year in Puglia with WingsItaly page, where the Book button takes you into our own booking. Places now: 16 places left.

Questions before you book can go to Claire Dymond, who hosts the week with WingsItaly, through our contact page, or to Rosie, the chat on the holiday page.