Christmas Traditions in Italy: 35 Reasons Why Christmas Might Be Better in Italy

The Colosseum Tree

Delivering presents in Venice is by water

There are many differences between celebrating Christmas in Italy and the United States. The main reason is that all of Italy is Roman Catholic and even though many (especially younger) Italians don't go to church as often as their grandparents did, it is still a very religious holiday. Here are some interesting ways they celebrate Christmas in Italy...

• Not that there isn't commercialism of Christmas in Italy, but there is much, much less than in the U.S.
• While we have Santa Claus, Italians have Babbo Natale (Father Christmas).
• Christmas officially kicks off with the Day of the Immaculate Conception of Mary on December 8, which means that many public offices and businesses are closed. This is also when Christmas decorations are put up.
• Italian kids lately have been writing letters to Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) more and more, but the time honored tradition is to write letters to their parents, saying how much they love them. The little ones place the letters under the father's dinner plate and are read after the Christmas Eve dinner is finished.
• They don't have Carolers, but instead have Zampognari (bagpipers) and Pifferai (pipers playing a type of flute) that play in the piazza or at religious sites. They wear colorful traditional costumes of sheepskin vests, knee-high stockings, and long dark cloaks.
• The Good Witch, La Befana brings children toys (or black sugar "coal") on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. The legend claims that Befana was "converted" into believing in the Christ Child after refusing to help the Three Wise Men... when she saw the Nativity Star she became kind and giving.
• Urn of Fate - Each member of the family takes turns drawing a wrapped gift out of a large ornamental bowl until all the presents are distributed.
• The Ceppo are wooden, pyramid shaped shelves several feet high which are decorated with colorful papers, candles and stars. The shelves hold gifts of fruit, candy, and presents with a Nativity (presepe) often being placed at the top. In many homes, a much larger, complex Nativity can take over the entire Ceppo. 

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Zampognari

Babbi Natale taking a break before delivering their presents

La Befana, the Good Christmas Witch

• Christmas dinner is more diverse than in the States: baccalà (salted dried cod fish), vermicelli, baked pasta, capon and turkey.
• Traditional Christmas Eve Dinner is known as La Vigilia Napoletana and includes seven types of fish (or nine, eleven, or thirteen, depending on the town). In southern towns the meal includes drowned broccoli rabe (Christmas Broccoli), roasted or fried eel, and caponata di pesce (fish salad).
• Many kinds of sweets (dolci) are served with the holiday meal:  struffoli (Neapolitan honey balls), cenci (fried pastry ribbons sprinkled with powered sugar), dried figs, candied almonds, chestnuts (soaked in wine then roasted), and shaped marzipan fruits and vegetables.
• Sweet breads are also a tradition: panforte (Siena), pandolce (Genoa), pandoro (Verona)  and panettone (Milano). A legend claims that a sixteenth century baker created sweet, buttery panettone to impress his lover. After the unification of Italy, candied red cherries and green citron was added as a a symbol of national pride.
• Besides Christmas Eve and Christmas, there are other special feasts during the holiday season in Italy: New Year's Eve is the Feast of San Silvestro; then there is the La Befana Dinner, or Feast of the Epiphany.
• The sparkling Italian wine Prosecco is used to toast the New Year and to have with holiday desserts.
• Lentils with sausage are traditionally eaten on New Year's Day as a symbol of good luck and prosperity in the New Year (Italians think lentils look like little coins).
• During the holidays, Biscotti (twice-baked cookies) are traditionally dunked in Vin Santo, Tuscany's traditional sweet wine.
• Nearly every town has spectacular Christmas lighting, unlike anything seen in the States. Many lighting arrays are attached to ornate frameworks and archways that span entire streets.
• Churches usually have large and elaborate Nativity scenes displayed. This is especially true of Naples, long known for the best artisans that create magnificent figurines for displaying in Nativity scenes. There are also many live Nativities acted out all over Italy. 
• In Abbadia di San Salvatore, a small town near Montalcino, there is the Fiaccole di Natale (Festival of Christmas Torches) on Christmas Eve. There is caroling and torchlight processions in memory of the shepherds from the first Christmas Eve.
• In the Abruzzo region, on Christmas Eve, many towns welcome the birth of Christ with large bonfires in their piazzas.
• In Rome there is the Vatican, and being the center of the Catholic faith, it holds many religious ceremonies. There are a series of Christmas masses celebrated, with midnight mass being one of the most important where the Pope delivers his annual multi-lingual Messaggio Urbi et Orbi. In the center of Piazza San Pietro is a life-size crèche.
• In Bologna on New Year's Eve, the Fiera del Bue Grasso (Fair of the Fat Ox) takes place. A live oxen is decorated from horns to tail with flowers and ribbons, cannons are fired, church bells rung, everyone lights a candle and fireworks are set off. In the end of the festivities, a drawing is held where the winner gets to keep the ox. Only in Italy!
• In Milano they perform an Advent Musical Calendar in the Piazza Duomo. On the first day of Advent, there is one jazz musician at a single the window, for the second day of Advent, two musicians playing jazz in two windows, etc....  until there are 24 jazz musicians playing the final concert on Christmas Eve. Bravo!
• Starting in early December, many towns have Christmas Markets selling all sorts of holiday decorations, Nativity figurines, with food, wine and music. These are the most festive events in Italy with amazing Christmas lights and decorations. Try the Piazza Navona in Rome, Merano in Southern Tyrol, Rango near Lake Garda, and in Levico Terme, in Valsugana. Here's a LINK to more markets. 

Christmas Trulli in Alberobello

Struffoli

Cardoon soup with polpette (meatballs)

• Legend tells that Mary, Joseph and Jesus in their flight to Egypt took refuge under a fig tree, hiding them from Herod's soldiers. In thanks, Mary blessed the tree and gave it the privilege of bearing fruits twice a year. Dried figs are eaten in the Christmas season to celebrate this miracle.
• Laurel leaves are ever present in Italy during Christmastime, both hung as wreathes as a good omen and to decorate the table for meals. This is a tradition from ancient Rome--the pagan God Ianus (Janus) was celebrated on January 1st by exchanging gifts of figs and dates accompanied by laurel leaves.
• Mistletoe's berries are in groups of three and contain a liquid similar to the male semen--a symbol of fertility in Italy. Druids picked it with a gold knife, a symbol of manliness. Mistletoe signified the union of the male and female, which became the Christian tradition, kissing under the mistletoe. Since mistletoe literally grows up in the air in host trees (it's a  parasitic plant), it has a heavenly significance associated with the Immaculate Conception. 
• In Italy Tombola is a very common family game played at Christmas, similar to bingo. Playing tombola on Christmas Eve, with all the relatives, grandparents and children is a common ritual, with all shouting when they win a prize--usually the children. (Click for more on Tombola).
  
• Lenticchie and cotechino (Lentils and Pork Sausage) are a special meal served for the New Year celebration. It is prepared with lentils and tomato sauce and sausage, the lentils representing prosperity in the New Year. Either Cotechino or Zampone is used: cotechino is made with the least expensive parts of pork meat; zampone is a pork leg filled with lean pork meat.

St. Peters, Rome

San Gimignano

Amalfi

• Cardoon Soup: Cardoon is a vegetable resembling a large, spikey head of celery which tastes like artichoke. I saw it labeled as "Cardi" in Italian markets. Cardoon soup is made with sliced cardoon, chicken broth, small meatballs (lamb or pork), grated Parmesan and egg beaten into the soup (called stracciatella).  This is typically served as a primo course for the Christmas day meal. My Dad would have loved this soup--he was fond of stracciatella soup.
• Rice and Chestnut Soup is another common soup served at the Christmas meal.
• Pizzelles are cookies with roots in ancient Rome, cooked in between two hot snowflake patterned irons, held over a fire. Very popular at Christmas filled with Nutella or a pastry cream, they also show up on Easter and Italian weddings. 
• Children learn Christmas poems at school to recite after Christmas Eve dinner, and get money from their relatives. On December 24, after the traditional dinner and reciting of children's poems, families walk all together to church for the traditional Christmas Mass, which usually ends with the singing of a traditional Italian carol: Tu scendi dalle stelle.
• Concerto di Natale from Assisi: On Christmas Day, after the Pope's "Urbi et Orbi" blessing broadcast on TV, RAI TV presents a yearly live concert performed in the Basilica of San Francisco in Assisi to celebrate peace, solidarity, joy, hope, and the Christmas spirit.
• La N’docciata festival with pagan roots honoring fire is held on the 8th and 24th of December each year in Agnone, near Abruzzo.  Hundreds of years ago, shepherds in the area built large fan shaped torches made of wood that they could carry on their shoulders for light and warmth.  Today, this is repeated by boys and men of the town, parading and dancing while these treacherous infernos nip at their backs. It's an amazing, other-worldly site to see.
  

Presepe figurines

Torino

Christmas Season Phrases

• il Natale — Christmas
• Babbo Natale — Santa Claus
• Buon Natale — Merry Christmas
• il regalo di Natale — Christmas present
• la vigilia di Natale — Christmas Eve
• l'albero di Natale — Christmas tree
• il canto di Natale — Christmas carol
• il biglietto d'auguri — Christmas card
• il presepio — nativity, creche
• Gesù Bambino —the Christ Child or Infant Jesus
• la festa di Santo Stefano — Saint Stephen's Day
• il Capodanno — New Year's Day
• gli auguri di Capodanno — New Year's greeting
• la Befana — kindly old witch who brings children toys on Twelfth Night
• la festa dell'Epifania — Epiphany
• i Re Magi — the Magi, or the Three Kings or Wise Men

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Piazza Navona, Rome - Christmas Market

Panettone

There's much more to the Christmas than just December 25th in Italy. Throughout December and January there are a number of religious holidays that are celebrated. Remember, since Italy is a Roman Catholic country, many religious holidays are also national holidays so you might find many government offices are closed:

• DECEMBER 6: La Festa di San Nicola - The festival in honor of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of shepherds, is celebrated in towns such as Pollutri with the lighting of fires under enormous cauldrons, in which fave (broad beans) are cooked, then eaten ceremoniously.
• DECEMBER 8: L'Immacolata Concezione - celebration of the Immaculate Conception
• DECEMBER 13: La Festa di Santa Lucia - St. Lucy's Day
• DECEMBER 24: La Vigilia di Natale - Christmas Eve
• DECEMBER 25: Natale - Christmas
• DECEMBER 26: La Festa di Santo Stefano - St. Stephen's Day marks the announcement of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men
• DECEMBER 31: La Festa di San Silvestro - New Year's Eve
• JANUARY 1: Il Capodanno - New Year's Day
• JANUARY 6: La Festa dell'Epifania - The Epiphany
  

--Jerry Finzi


If you enjoyed this post, pass it around to your friends... and Boun Natale!

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