It’s not that time of the year just yet but the main holiday in Italy is without any doubt Christmas day and many await this holiday with anticipation all year round. For most of us this holiday is much more than just a day spent with family around a decorated tree because we were raised attending the midnight mass, saying prayers to show gratitude for the year just passed and learning the religious origin of these festivities.

  In recent years Christmas has increasingly become a commercial holiday and for some has lost its spiritual significance but, although the younger generations are far less devoted than the older ones, Italians do like to keep traditions alive and cherish old customs. Nowadays, in Italy, people live religion in a more modern way by maintaining the customs rather than following the Church and the spiritual significance of its holidays.  Nevertheless, the weeks leading to Christmas Day are called the Advent weeks and they are a time to rediscover the true meaning of this festivity and prepare for it.  The Advent lasts four weeks and the Italian word avvento comes from the Latin verb advenire, meaning to come, because the Advent is indeed announcing the arrival of baby Jesus for those who do believe.

The Advent calendar can be made of wood, cloth or cardboard and it starts on December 1st and ends on Christmas Eve.  The calendar is made of slots numbered for each day and each slot contains a chocolate or a small gift.  Some calendars are industrially produced and sold but many people still like to create their own for their loved ones.


Christmas is all about beautiful decorations but it’s also about remembrance and symbolic representations.  The unavoidable Christmas tree is obviously present in most households.  It is a very old tradition of pagan origin which was introduced to Italy by Queen Margherita of Savoy (yes, the same queen of the famous Margherita pizza!) in the late 19th century.  Italian families traditionally assemble and decorate their tree on December 8th, the day of the Immaculate Conception, and usually make this a special occasion to get the whole family involved.

Although virtually every Italian family decorates a Christmas tree, only a few prepare a nativity scene in the house, which it’s a real shame because the manger scene is one of the most ancient, exciting and creative aspects of Christmas traditions.
The custom of setting up a nativity scene became popular in cathedrals and noble palaces in the 13th century when famous artists would carve or paint some upon commission.

     
In every corner of Liguria, cultural associations and church communities organize the reenactment of the birth of Jesus.  When the nativity scene is live and with actors involved, it is a truly traditional event which involves hundreds of people for several days, bringing to life the true magic of Christmas and giving back to this holiday its original spirit.  In the region of Liguria many are the towns that participate in the preparation of nativity scenes and each town chooses its theme to make it unique and as creative as possible.

In the town of Orco, in Savona’s province, on December 24th and 25th, the nativity scene is staged by local artisans who show their crafts dressed in costume for the occasion, while the entire town of Torriglia, in the hinterland of Genoa, becomes a baroque nativity scene in the open with live-size statues set up all over the streets of this small medieval stone village.   Also the town of Orero hosts a very special live nativity scene with all the characters of the fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Snow White and even Spiderman!

The manger scene of the town of Manarola is the biggest lit up nativity scene in the world. It was created by a former railway worker on an area arranged on terraces and it employs 250 characters, all built from discarded materials and illuminated by 1,500 light bulbs.  Italians love to travel in the weeks leading to Christmas to visit the towns with the most original and unique nativity arrangements and Liguria becomes a prime destination at this time of the year.