4 October is the national holiday of St Francis: here’s how much your salary will increase (even though it’s a Sunday). The simulations

From this year on 4 October, the feast day of St Francis, is once again a national holiday. Inclusion amongst these public holidays entails time off work or, in the case of work carried out or make-up arrangements, the application of the relevant financial and remuneration provisions laid down by law and in collective agreements. In 2026, 4 October falls on a Sunday, so this particular circumstance must also be taken into account for this year.

As 4 October falls on a Sunday in 2026, most workers will be entitled to compensation for the public holiday not taken. “The October payslip will therefore include an additional daily rate on top of the normal pay,” explains Giuseppe Buscema, an expert at the Fondazione Studi dei Consulenti del Lavoro.

If, on Sunday 4 October, an employee is required to work (i.e. on a public holiday that coincides with their day off), they shall be entitled to their normal pay, the allowance for a public holiday falling on a Sunday, and payment for the hours worked at the public holiday rate.

The public holiday for St Francis must be recognised and paid even if the National Collective Labour Agreements (CCNL) have not yet updated their internal list of public holidays.

Buscema (Fondazione Consulenti Lavoro) has examined the impact of this public holiday on certain categories of workers using a number of simulations. Here are some examples of how much extra workers will earn for the public holiday they take, net of social security contributions and tax, and what the costs will be for the employer. A fourth-level shop assistant (Confcommercio National Collective Agreement) will receive an extra €46.40 in their pay packet (the cost to the employer will be €94.44); a second-level office worker, also covered by the retail sector collective agreement, will receive an additional net amount of €49.62 in their pay packet, at a cost to the employer of €117.58; a level D2 manual worker under the metalworking industry collective agreement (Federmeccanica) will earn an additional net amount of €51.62 (at a cost of €106.30 to the employer), whilst a level B1 office worker, also in the metalworking sector, will receive a net payment of €52.70 for the public holiday (at a cost of €124.33 to the employer); a fifth-level metalworking craft worker (Confartigianato, CNA, Casartigiani, CLAAI) will receive €41.62 (at a cost to the employer of €86.06) whilst a first-level office worker covered by the same collective agreement will receive a net payment of 47.38 euros (at a cost to the employer of 111.66 euros). Furthermore: a level 45 employee covered by the National Collective Labour Agreement for Professional Practices (Confprofessioni) will receive a net pay of 43.09 euros (€87.50 for the employer) and an office worker on the same contract will receive €47.31 (at a cost of €112.38 to the employer); finally, under the Public Establishments Collective Agreement (Fipe), a level 6 worker will receive a net pay of 38.84 euros (cost to the employer: €78.33) and a first-level office worker will receive €46.78 (cost to the employer: €110.09).