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Chrismas in Italy!

Christmas is celebrated in Italy through traditions like decorating Christmas trees from December 8th to January 6th, creating nativity scenes, and exchanging gifts that are sometimes delivered by Santa Lucia or Baby Jesus. Important meals include Vigilia dinner on Christmas Eve or lunch on Christmas Day, featuring dishes like polenta and cod or boiled meats. Regional sweets like panettone, torrone, and pandoro are also enjoyed, along with the greeting "Buon Natale" to wish someone a Merry Christmas in Italian.

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Erik Oros
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119 views6 pages

Chrismas in Italy!

Christmas is celebrated in Italy through traditions like decorating Christmas trees from December 8th to January 6th, creating nativity scenes, and exchanging gifts that are sometimes delivered by Santa Lucia or Baby Jesus. Important meals include Vigilia dinner on Christmas Eve or lunch on Christmas Day, featuring dishes like polenta and cod or boiled meats. Regional sweets like panettone, torrone, and pandoro are also enjoyed, along with the greeting "Buon Natale" to wish someone a Merry Christmas in Italian.

Uploaded by

Erik Oros
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Christmas

in Italy

By Giulai Dariana 
 & Oros Erik Ionuț
How is Christmas
celebrated in Italy?
• Let's start with the famous symbol of
Christmas, which is never missing from any
Italian home: the Christmas tree. In Italy, the
Christmas tree became a tradition in the
second half of the 19th century thanks to
Queen Margherita of Savoy, who decorated it
in the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome,
launching a fashion that quickly spread
throughout the peninsula.

• Tradition now says that Christmas trees are


decorated on December 8th and taken down
on January 6th each year.
• Another important part of Italian Christmas is the nativity
scene. The Nativity scene as we know it today is said to be
the work of St. Francis of Assisi. On Christmas Eve 1223, in
Greccio, Umbria, he created the first nativity scene in
history, representing the birth of Jesus in his cradle in
Bethlehem.Since then, many artists have created wooden
or clay figurines for this purpose. The first were the
Tuscans, but soon they spread to the old kingdom of
Naples. Currently, the masters of representing the Nativity
Scene are the Neapolitans, and the symbol of this
Neapolitan tradition are the shops in Via San Gregorio
Armeno.
Christmas gifts in Italy
• What about the gifts? Santa Claus, Santa Lucia or Jesus, who
brings Christmas gifts to Italy?

• Obviously nowadays it is Santa who brings the presents,


although in some areas of northern Italy, such as Brescia,
Bergamo and Verona, the tradition of Santa Lucia continues
to be the saint who brings the children's gifts at Christmas.
At one time, in a less consumerist age, Jesus Christ himself
traditionally brought gifts to all the children.
What is the traditional Christmas meal in
Italy?
• We come to one of the most important moments: Christmas
Eve dinner or Christmas meal?

• Here, Italy is divided between those who place more


importance on Vigilia dinner, an evening meal on December
24, and those who prefer lunch on Christmas Day.

• The typical Christmas dishes of the various Italian regions are


many and varied, but the polenta with cod and lesso with
sauces in Veneto deserve special mention
• That said, a constant of all Italian Christmas meals are dried
fruit and desserts such as panettone, torrone and pandoro.
In addition to these classic Italian holiday sweets, each
region has its own typical Christmas sweets.
• Last but not least, if
you're planning to spend
Christmas  like the
Italians, then you'll need
to perfect your Italian
greetings for these
holidays too. If you want
to wish someone a
Merry Christmas in
Italian, then you can say
"Buon Natale".

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