Blog
The Fall is a great month for food and wine festivals all over the country, especially those dedicated to the vino novello (new wine) and chestnuts. Both are a traditional symbol of the Fall in Italy and if you visit in November and have the luck to come across one of these festivals, you should absolutely take part to experience a wonderful, timeless slice of Italian lifestyle. Some of the most popular taking place in November are those of Vallerano, near Viterbo, and Riofreddo, in the province of Rome.
One of the most important ways of celebrating Christmas in Italy is the Nativity crib scene. Using a crib to help tell the Christmas story was made very popular by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 (Assisi is in mid-Italy). The previous year he had visited Bethlehem and saw where the stable, where it was thought that Jesus was born. A lot of Italian families have a Nativity crib in their homes.
The city of Naples in Italy is world famous for its cribs and crib making. These are known as 'Presepe Napoletano' (meaning Neapolitan Cribs). The first crib scene in Naples is thought to go back to 1025 and was in the Church of S. Maria del presepe (Saint Mary of the Crib), this was even before St. Francis of Assisi had made cribs very popular!
Having cribs in your own home became popular in the 16th century and it's still popular today (before that only churches and monasteries had cribs). Cribs are traditionally put out on the 8th December. But the figure of the baby Jesus isn't put into the crib until the evening/night of December 24th!