Most little villages have beautiful Christmas markets where all the local artisans can sell their hand made products.One of the nicest I saw when in Italy for Christmas, was in Perugia where they were displayed in an ancient underground building that had been newly renovated and full of nooks and crannies. It was used as a shelter during the war and to escape from the Nazis but now is being put to a joyful use. Perugia is the capital of Umbria and is a beautiful hilltop town with amazing views.
We waited in the cold, wind and rain for midnight mass outside the Catholic church in Grosseto Tuscany. It was a high mass sung in Latin which dutifully put my children and their father to sleep with those wonderful gregorian chants. The presipe or nativity scenes in the churches are very impressive in Italy. They are usually very large with life size statues. Grosetto's was unveiled in a solemn ceremony and blessed at the end of the mass and was enormous.
Most Italians build a new nativity scene in their homes every year and no scene is the same. Lined with moss and lights they are a work of art. The best presepe are found down south in Napoli where there is a whole street devoted to selling all the nativity statues in all varying sizes as well as the stables with accompanying lights. People travel all over the world to see this street and it is very impressive.
One of the churches in the village of Pozzuoli near Napoli had made a presepe that was so huge that it took up three rooms under the church. Four men took four months to construct the village made out of pottery with all the people in the village represented. A delightful way to spend one's creative time but a lot of work. These guys need more recognition. They are artists in their own right.
