On the more solemn feast-days all work is strictly forbidden by the priests; and either employer or labourer, who was detected in an infraction of the law, would be subject to heavy fines.
Even on the minor festivals, about the observance of which the Church is not so strict, labour is almost equally out of the question.

The people have got so used to holiday keeping, that nothing but absolute necessity can induce them to work, except on working days.

All over Italy this is too much the case.

I was told by a large manufacturer in Florence, that having a great number of orders on hand, and knowing extreme distress to prevail among his workmen's families, he offered double wages to any one who came to work on a "festa" day, but that only two out of a hundred responded to his offer.

I merely mention this fact, as one out of many such I have heard, to show how this abuse must prevail in Rome, where every moral influence is exerted in favour of idleness against industry, and where the observance of holy days is practised most religiously.
Then, too, the higher rate of wages paid in summer is counterbalanced by the extra risk to which the labourer is exposed.