Piazza del Duomo, Florence, Italy
I’ll soon be headed back to the States to celebrate Christmas with my family, but for now: Merry Christmas from Florence.
In Italy, Christmas is a blend of faith, family, and food. There’s a popular saying: Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi: Christmas with your family, Easter with whomever you want. This truly captures the spirit of the season: Christmas is meant to be spent with your loved ones.
All around the city, nativity scenes, called presepi, are ubiquitous and can be spotted in churches, shop windows, and piazzas. In some areas of Italy, live manger scenes are staged in ancient streets and piazzas. The Christ Child doesn’t appear in the manger until midnight on Christmas Eve, a meaningful moment. Families gather for long meals: a (usually) meatless Christmas Eve lunch or dinner, followed by a lavish Christmas Day feast where every region adds its own touch and specialties.
Of course, traditions vary from country to country and even from family to family. And not everyone spends the holidays the same way. Some gather in noisy houses, some celebrate quietly, and some spend the days alone, whether by choice or circumstance.
However you find yourself this year, my family and I send you our love and hope that the season brings you comfort, health, and peace.
Buon Natale a tutti.
Dear, dear Libby, I also wish you and your own family deep peace, comfort and health this holiday season and into the new year ~ your descriptive words and photos transport us all to a richer understanding of the holiday in Italy that we, too, can create here in some way in our own homes.
Buon Natale!
Pam
My dearest Pam, Thank you for your beautiful message. You’re right that we can create our own rituals of family, faith, and food in our homes. Traditions help to hold us together….or, maybe, they bring us to a place of remembering. Buon Natale a te.