When the City of Rome’s official Christmas tree – a 72’ Norway Spruce from Trentino – was erected in Piazza Venezia on 8th November, it was shockingly bare of foliage.  While City officials and the supplier debated over liability, Romans christened the tree “Spelacchio,” which means something like “Old Baldy.”  Soon Spelacchio had its own Twitter account, with more followers, it was said, than the tree had needles.

As if to compensate, Bulgari, the luxury jewellers, erected a stunning golden glass “tree” on the top level of the Spanish Steps, just below the Trinità dei Monti church.  Via Condotti, where Bulgari began business in 1905, leads directly away from the steps, and the scintillating golden lights above the street looked suspiciously like jewellery.  And, of course, there were spectacular lights above many other streets, including Via del Corso and Via del Babuino.

Epiphany is the 12th day after Christmas.  On Epiphany Eve, 5th January, La Befana flies from house to house on her broomstick, leaving sweets for good children and coal for the naughty ones.  She also apparently paints faces at her festival in Rome’s Piazza Navona (early December to 6th January). 

This year there was a carousel, a puppet show, balloons, carnival games, and lots of booths selling traditional items, like miniature presepe figures for home Nativity scenes (very popular in Italy).  Other vendors were selling decorated scopette scacciaguai – little Befana brooms that sweep away last year’s troubles!

In 1982, Pope John Paul II began the tradition of installing a large Presepe in the centre of St. Peter’s Square every Christmas season.  In 2017, besides Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the theme was “The Seven Acts of Mercy”: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering travellers, visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, and burying the dead.  

Turin, 2017

We arrived in Turin early in December.  There was a huge advent calendar set up in Piazza Castello.  Every night the Fire Brigade arrived with a truck-mounted “cherry picker” to open the next window.  Nearby was the Grandi Giochi in Legno, a play area well supplied with wooden toys, and lots of children to enjoy them.  Across the square, a giant Christmas “tree” made of thousands of LED lights changed colours and shapes in time with Christmas music.

A few blocks south, in Piazza San Carlo, the iconic square’s lampposts were topped with neon “cages” around multicoloured lanterns.  This was part of the 20th edition of Turin’s Luci d’Artista festival, which featured light displays created by well-known artists.  We found other Luci d’Artista installations on Via Po (hundreds of heavenly objects), Via Roma (constellations picked out in blue against a starry sky), and Via La Grange, where the text of a children’s book was suspended in brightly shining sentences across the street.

At Christmas time, throughout Italy, presepe – three-dimensional Nativity scenes – can be found in every church.  In Chiesa Santa Cristina, we found a simple altar scene that, in its elegant design and ravishing colours seemed a three-dimensional Renaissance painting.

Sorrento, 2018

Perched atop sheer cliffs high above the Bay of Naples, Sorrento provides an abundance of picturesque charm, history, views, cafes, summer sunshine, and lemon-scented air; and it’s the perfect base for travellers visiting Pompeii, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast.

You might not think of it as a Christmas destination; but if you happen to be there, you’ll find that the Sorrentines love to dress their town in holiday finery.  There’s a grand municipal tree, with musical dancing lights, in Piazza Tasso, the main square; but the tall palms all around town are also festooned with lights.

We found Piazza Sant’Antonino filled with illuminated Disney figures, and after sunset in Piazza Angelina Lauro, a small shopping district, luminous fairy-tale figures shone bright against the dark sky.  Main streets, like Corso Italia as well as narrow lanes like Largo Giuliani, all sported colourful and imaginative light displays.  A famous, incredibly detailed Neapolitan-style presepe was displayed in the historic loggia of the Workers’ Club, the Sedile Dominova, as it is every Christmas season.

Verona, 2019

A prosperous modern city of medieval squares, Verona has several historical claims to fame.  It’s the town where Romeo and Juliet lived, loved, and, alas, died.  It’s where Dante, during his exile from Florence, found a friend and patron in Verona’s greatest Lord, Cangrande I della Scala.  It’s home to an enormous Roman arena where, instead of watching gladiators battle to the death, you can now watch opera heroines like Tosca and Aida die tragically.  The arena is also the source of an 80-ton, steel “comet’s tail” that arches over the lip of the stadium to land as an exploding star in Piazza Brà every Christmas season.  

In the picturesque squares of central Verona, Christmas Markets – Mercatini – spring up, too, each Holiday season.  Here, you’ll find both tourists and Veronese mingling among wooden booths that offer an endless variety of food and drink, souvenirs, toys, ornaments, and gifts.  We enjoyed the splendid tree in ancient Piazza Erbe, and the galaxies of glowing stars and globes that floated above city streets like Corso Porto Borsari and Via Mazzini.

Venice, 2019

Those who are tasked with decorating Venice for Christmas have a challenging job; it’s difficult to park a boom lift in the middle of a street to hang lights if the street is made of water.  But more than that, Venice itself competes with any ornamentation.  For example, when I saw the elegant tree in the Piazzetta, I thought it was a masterpiece of Christmas tree art; but my eyes kept straying to the seductively graceful façade of the Doge’s Palace behind it.  I suppose that’s why the arcades surrounding three sides of Piazza San Marco featured subtle hanging strands of bright but monochrome lights behind their arches: why gild the lily?  Or, since that’s where we found Caffe Florian, why over-egg the pudding?

Meanwhile, on Campo Santi Filippo e Giacomo, the “Oldest Pizzeria in Venice,” the Conca d’Oro, abandoned all pretence of sophistication and created a vernacular art construction featuring Santa Claus, on the balcony above their entrance.  

And, on the deck of a historic cargo ship, we found the Holy Family sheltering in a lifeboat.  The ship, the Nuovo Trionfo, is moored in front of the Old Customs House at Punta Dogana, at the mouth of the Grand Canal opposite the San Marco district.  It’s a trabaccolo, and the last of its kind.  Such vessels were used to transport timber, grain, and other goods in the late 19th and early 20th century.  Its hull, masts, and rigging were lighted for Christmas by the volunteer organization that has conserved the ship: Amici di Nuovo Trionfo.  You can find them on Facebook.  Nuovo Trionfo, by the way, means “New Triumph.”

Finally, while looking at San Giorgio Island from the end of Via Garibaldi, we realized that sometimes, Venice requires only the most subtle of decoration.

Text © 2023 by Joe Gartman; Photographs © 2023 by Patricia Gartman. First published in Italia! Magazine, December/January 2023