By the time you read this, the family and I will be in Krakow, Poland, eating a fine lunch.

Today is the Assumption of Mary, and the Catholic Poles still have the good taste to celebrate it. As a result, I have a three-day weekend to spend with Micah and Pam in this lovely country.

Last year, we tried to get train tickets on this very same Friday, but were laughably late. There simply were no seats left. As we’d never been to Krakow, Poland’s most famous university city, we were disappointed. Determined not to let that happen again, I ordered our train tickets two weeks ago. We were early enough to get tickets, but only just; we’re in the same car, but not sitting next to each other.

As I write this on Thursday night, I can tell you a few things.

First, First Majestic (AG; a stock I own) blew out expectations. Its Q2 earnings were a dream. Silver production was up 48%, revenue was up 94%, and all-in sustaining costs—the all-important mining cost metric—was down 3%... and yet the market isn’t impressed. That’s probably because silver is down over 1% as I write. AG shares are barely up.

Second, the PPI came out and the numbers, too, blew out expectations, and not in a good way. The PPI came in at 0.9% up, against expectations of 0.2%. Core PPI was up 0.6% versus 0.3% expectations. And while these are incredibly inflationary - friend and colleague Alan Knuckman posted a CNBC video of Rick Santelli positively shrieking about the numbers - the markets barely moved.

Third, it’s all eyes on Trump and Putin in Alaska on Friday. I don’t think the markets are thinking of much else.

Since that’s the case, I thought I’d write about Ferrogosto. This Italian holiday mashes together Roman and Catholic traditions, and in its way is celebrated all around Catholic Europe and Latin America.

From Emperor’s PR Stunt to National Time-Out

Some sunburned Tuscan mayor didn’t dream up the original Ferragosto—it was born in 18 BC, courtesy of Emperor Augustus. The Feriae Augusti was his version of Juvenal’s “Bread and Circuses”: a reward for finishing the harvest, dressed up with chariot races, animal parades, and floral garlands.

Centuries later, the Catholic Church moved the date to August 15 to align with the Assumption of Mary. Now you could tick your spiritual boxes while still devouring barbecued meat and watermelon. Win-win.

Mussolini’s Beach Train Revolution

By the 1930s, Mussolini spotted an opportunity. He introduced “Treni Popolari di Ferragosto”—ultra-cheap train fares so the working class could get to the coast or the mountains.

The catch? No food service. Italians didn’t mind. They packed pasta bakes, sausages, bread, and gallons of wine. This beach-picnic culture stuck, and to this day, you’ll find families unpacking five-course meals on the sand like they’re feeding an infantry regiment.

Ferragosto 2025: What It Looks Like Now

If you’re in Italy today, highways are clogged with hatchbacks loaded for the beach. Cities are eerily empty—except for confused tourists wondering where everyone went. Beaches are jammed. Umbrellas will be touching like a Roman legion “testudo formation.” Kids will be screaming. Adults will pretend to read. The evening will bring fireworks, bonfires, and enough prosecco to float a gondola.

It’s a full-country pause button.

But Step Outside Italy, and It’s Party Season

Ferragosto may be Italy’s grand summer hibernation, but here in Poland—and across much of Europe—August is when the volume gets turned up. Both Catholics and Protestants party the nights away.

• Wrocław, Poland – August 15 is also Polish Army Day, commemorating the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, when Poland stopped the Soviet advance. Military parades, concerts, and fireworks light up the city. While Italy is asleep, Poland’s in uniform and marching.
  
  
• Sziget Festival (Budapest, Hungary) – A week-long music bacchanal on an island in the Danube. Rock, pop, EDM, and 400,000 attendees from around the globe. It’s Ferragosto with bass drops.
  
  
• Gäubodenvolksfest (Straubing, Germany) – Bavaria’s summer Oktoberfest: 11 days of beer tents, brass bands, and carnival rides. You don’t need a harvest to justify this kind of consumption.
  
  
• Edinburgh Festivals (Scotland) – The International Festival, the Fringe, and the Book Festival all collide in August. It’s theatre, comedy, and opera until you drop.
  
  
• Notting Hill Carnival (London, UK) – Late August, steel drums and jerk chicken in the streets, with two million people dancing through West London.
  
  
• Berlin Beer Festival (Germany) – Two kilometers of beer stands on Karl-Marx-Allee. You walk it once for the view, twice for the lagers, and a third time because you forgot where you started.
  
  
• Wacken Open Air (Germany) – The heavy metal pilgrimage. Mud, leather, and guitars that can melt your fillings.

In other words, while Italy snoozes, Europe raves, parades, and drinks.

Italy’s Quiet Defiance vs. Europe’s August Frenzy

Ferragosto is Italy’s way of saying “no” to hustle culture. It’s not a festival. It’s not a fair. It’s a flat refusal to pretend that work in mid-August matters.

The rest of Europe? It’s out in the streets, drinking, dancing, and sweating through cultural overload. From my seat here in Poland, I can see the divide: Italy retreats to its beaches; the Poles keep the bar open and the marching band playing; Germany throws a beer tent the size of a village; Scotland tells jokes until 4 a.m.

Wrap Up

From Augustus’ PR stunt to Mussolini’s beach trains to today’s mass migration to the coast, Ferragosto has been the same essential message for over 2,000 years:

Stop working. Eat well. Don’t answer your phone.

It’s Italy’s most undervalued export—the idea that the most productive thing you can do is nothing at all. And in a continent that, in August, is either in full party mode or full hibernation, maybe that’s the sanest strategy of them all.

So this weekend, stop working, eat well, and leave your iPhone in the other room. We’ll see what happens in the markets on Monday.

Have a great one!