The holiday season in Italy is a happy time, rich with religious feeling and spiced with lavish quantities of good things to eat. Decorating the house is an important part of holiday fun in Italy, too.
Early in December, tables and wooden stalls in vast numbers appear in the central squares of towns large and small. Happy, jostling crowds wander about looking, sometimes buying, playing games of chance, and eating. The markets are really more like carnivals; noisy, gaudy, and gay.
The mangers range from simple, homemade recreations of the old Bible story to elaborate displays containing hundreds of pieces and dozens of different scenes. The tiny image of the Christ Child in His crib is deeply cherished by Italians, and the country is literally studded with Nativity scenes at Christmas time.
Families make special trips to the colorful Christmas markets to buy presents and new manger figures. Window shopping is great fun – stores and streets are all gaily decorated with lights and Christmas greenery.
Italy is a vibrant, exciting place to be at Christmas time. In Rome, at sunset on Christmas Eve, cannons boom from the Castle of St. Angelo, announcing the start of the holy season. A few hours later, the city’s streets are jammed with crowds heading for one of its more than 400 churches.
At St. Peter’s, the Pope himself conducts the Midnight Mass. Christmas in the Vatican is a splendid occasion, rich with pageantry, music, incense, glowing colors, and precious jewels. St. Peter’s is an incredibly impressive church, glittering with gold and filled with priceless paintings, statues, and mosaics. The main altar stands in the center, its bronze canopy upheld by massive, ornate columns. And more than 400 feet overhead looms the awesome dome, designed by Michelangelo.
A festively decorated house filled with family, friends, and song, and a holiday table laden with delicious food – that’s an Italian Christmas!
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