Presepi in Italia

Winter holiday time in Italy is quite magical. Everywhere you look, nativity scenes (Presepi) are present of all shapes and sizes. In my frazzione (Hamlet) of Santa Maria, they start building it at the end of October and it takes up half of the parking lot by the pharmacy and water station. Some towns / cities go BIG and others leave it up to each neighborhood to create their own thing.

The picture below the title above is one I took in Verona back in 2016. This giant shooting star thing gets installed sometime in November and stays up through mid-January. It’s spectacular! This is at the Arena of Verona in Piazza Bra. There are lots of bars, restaurants and shops all around. Note: The Arena hosts the annual Opera Festival from June through September. When I was there one summer years ago, we enjoyed some snacks and wine while watching play rehersals in the Arena one afternoon.

Verona is a fun city to visit during the winter holiday season, as they exhibit hundreds of presepe from museums and artisans around the world. They also have a wonderful Christmas market in Piazza dei Signori. It has a variety of crafts, food, music and more. It’s lively and fun. Strolling through Verona in the evening this time of year is simply magical.

OK, back to Presepi. Here are a few pictures of the Presepe in Santa Maria. This is not just a Manger scene like we have in the US, it’s Very detailed and often represents a village.

I read recently that the town of Manarola in La Cinque Terra turns itself into a life-sized Presepe – the worlds largest. I copied a pic from Google Images to give you a flavor, this is really spectacular. I can only imagine what it looks like during the day.

In Rome, St. Peter’s Square is famously decorated with 100 nativity scenes of all types from across the world. Part of the tradition is that the baby Jesus will be added to the scene by the pope himself on Christmas Eve. Again, I haven’t seen this in person yet, so I grabbed some pics from Google.

In Positano, their presepe represents daily life all year round so it is built into the side of a rock wall as you drive down into town. I am guessing it’s not technically a presepe because it is not a nativity scene but I don’t know the actual name for it. It’s really interesting. I have attached a few pics that I took back in 2019.

It is very common to have presepi set up inside of churches. Here is a picture from one of the churches in Città della Pieve, along with some Christmas tree decorations around town.

In my town, Monteleone d’Orvieto, they entire Centro Storico is transformed into a living presepe. In the evenings on Fri & Sat of December, and Jan. 6th (la Epifania), the citizens are dressed up bringing the presepe to life…a True living presepe. It’s wonderful.

Speaking of The Epiphany, leading up to this everyone will be anticipating the arrival of La Befana. La Befana is an Italian legend about a witch who delivers gifts to children on the eve of the Epiphany, January 5th. The story goes that she was visited by the Three Wise Men, who invited her to join them on their journey to find the baby Jesus, but she refused because she was too busy. After they left, she had a change of heart, but it was too late to find him. Now, every year, she flies on her broomstick, leaving gifts like sweets for good children and coal for naughty ones.

Città della Pieve holds a festical on the eve of the Epiphany to celebrate the arrival of La Befana. Here are some highlights.

When I published this last night, I forgot the most important presepe of all. The father of my project manager & friend, Federica, came to Casale Giulietta last year when the roof was getting finished and the rooms were in raw form. He makes presepi for his family and town and commented that the rooms would make a perfect presepe in their current state. Fast forward a year, now that the rooms are finished, he surprised me with a very special gift. He made a presepe of the house. It’s amazing and even has lights and a door mat with the name of the house. I will cherish this forever.