Learn Italian: Il Natale è una festa importante. - Christmas is an important holiday.

In Italian, definite articles are typically used before the names of holidays, which is different from English. You will commonly see il Natale (Christmas) or la Pasqua (Easter). However, the article is dropped in standard greetings, such as Buon Natale (Merry Christmas).

I learned that festa means 'party'. Does it also mean 'holiday'?

Yes! The word festa is very versatile. While it is the standard word for a party, it also translates to a feast, festival, or public holiday. In this context, it refers to a holiday.

The word festa is feminine. Why isn't the adjective spelled importanta?

Adjectives that end in -e in their dictionary form, like importante, are used for both masculine and feminine nouns in the singular. They never change to end in -a or -o. When making them plural, they change to end in -i (like feste importanti).

Since this lesson is about dates, how would I say 'Christmas is the 25th of December'?

To express a specific date in Italian, you use the definite article il followed by the regular cardinal number. You would say Il Natale è il 25 dicembre. Keep in mind that months of the year are not capitalized in Italian!