Hello friend,
Apart from Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, there are a few other significant dates in the Italian festive season calendar that you must watch out for if you decide to visit Italy in December and January.
Some people are wary of visiting Italy for Christmas and New Year, but really, it’s a great time of the year to experience Italy differently.
The winters in Italy are not as cold or bleak as they used to be, so those who think they will be stuck inside because of bad weather or cold shouldn’t be that worried.
There is something magical about putting on different layers of clothing and exploring a Christmas market, skiing, or visiting a church during Advent without the summer crowds. Then there are so many things to warm you up quickly, from wood fires, hearty Italian winter food or treats, densely thick hot chocolate, grappa, and many other liquors or mulled wine.
There is something stylish about how Italians can coordinate their winter clothes and style to always make the most of the winter. It is wonderful to grab some bargains after New Year’s in the winter sales or to fill your wardrobe with colourful scarves, gloves, coats, gloves and elegant jumpers. Even for Christmas, most Italian brands will put out special edition perfumes, colognes, jewellery, good luck red, and festive undergarments.
On the 7th of December, there is the feast day of St Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, a significant figure in the early catholic church; his religious celebrations are pretty spectacular. In particular the religious services held in the Basilica of St Ambrose.
St. Ambrose Day starts the Christmas season in Milan, filled with celebrations and Christmas markets. At the same time, the world-famous La Scala Opera House starts its opera performance season and many other festive season concerts and performances around the city.
The 8th of December is the Immaculate Conception feast, when Italians officially decorate their Christmas decorations. The feast day celebrates the immaculate conception of the Saintly mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary. Not, in fact, the often mistaken belief that it reflects the date of Jesus’s conception. According to Catholic tradition, Maria was conceived on the 8th of December and was born nine months later on the 8th of September.
Santa Lucia or St Lucy is on the 13th of December and is a particularly important Saint Day worldwide, particularly in Northern Europe. In northern Italy, St Lucy brings gifts to little children. At Syracuse, the birthplace of the Saint, there are many religious celebrations, her relics are displayed, and the sweet version of the cuccia di Santa Lucia is prepared to remember the Saint’s great miracles.
In most of Sicily, the cuccia is a rich soup made of 13 different lentils and beans to recall the date and how the Saint saved the island from famine. The locals prayed to the Saint for a miracle and were granted one in the form of a mysterious ship arriving filled with grain, which the famished population took, boiled and ate, so great was their hunger.
San Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples, and his celebrations on the 16th of December are significant for all Neopolitans. There are festivals worldwide for this saintly protector whom migrants have taken with them, but the actual feast date is on the 19th of September. The winter date corresponds to the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631.
For religious celebrations, an ampoule containing the Saint’s blood is taken from the reliquary of the Monastery of Santa Chiara to the main altar of the Cathedral, with the hope that the miracle of the Saint’s blood liquefaction may occur.
The cult of San Gennaro, or St Januarius, and his relics are shrouded in mysticism and are sustained by a long tradition which began well before he became a saint in 1586. It is said to be a good omen when the Saint’s blood liquifies; if it doesn’t, it will be a lousy year for Naples and Italy in general. For example, people remember when, in 1980, the blood didn’t dissolve; it was the year of a terrible earthquake.
Apart from New Year’s and Christmas celebrations, significant importance is also placed on the 24th of December, the Vigilia di Natale, and the 31st of December, the Vigilia di Capodanno. Both the night before Christmas and New Year’s Eve are usually an excuse for excessive feasts where certain foods are prepared to bring good luck.
Christmas Eve is all about seafood, while New Year’s Eve is all about cotechino or zampagna stuffed pork sausage and lentils, bringing them a new prosperous year.
The day after Christmas or Boxing Day is usually a little sluggish, yet the 26th of December in Italy recalls Santo Stefano. St Stephen was the first recorded religious martyr for the catholic church, so his feast day is significant in the church’s annual calendar.
While the 6th of January, or the Epifinia, commemorates the Three Wise Men’s visit to the Baby Jesus in Italy, it officially marks the end of the holidays. Young children are visited by the Befana, a friendly older woman who met the three wise men and then also decided to see baby Jesus; not knowing where he is, she leaves little gifts to all the children instead. A sweet little gesture as the kids head back to school to finish the rest of the academic year.
While the epiphany marks the end of the festive season in Italy, everyone begrudgingly goes back to work the day after and usually starts their New Year’s resolution diet, a resolution traditionally brought on by the excesses of the Christmas season.
I hope you make it to Italy in the festive season as it is a very different experience compared to other times of year, with more traditions to pay homage to.
Warmest seasonal regards
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