The 17 contrade

The Legend of la BEFANA

Passion of Christ on Palm Sunday

The Grassina Passion Play

Gothic Dream

Wish upon a star

Halloween

Bacco Artigiano at Rufina

And who was St. Zenobius?

The Race or Bravio of St. Reparata

A home from home through the year

More Tuscan history

The Scottish market

Italian and Florentine Christmas traditions

Nativity scenes rather than trees
[Susan Glasspool]

You may find it hard to believe but Christmas trees are a relatively recent introduction to Italy, a tradition that gradually crept in during the 20th century from Northern Europe. Nativity scenes are instead a classical Italian institution and range from very simple family-made arrangements to more complex ones, usually to be found in churches. Some areas, including Florence, still hold competitions for the best household Nativity scene, and the judges go from house to house before deciding the winner.

Even more fascinating are the Nativity scenes with some sort of mechanical movement. These are usually fixtures, often attached to a church and normally visitable throughout the year. The makers of these incredibly detailed compositions continue to add new elements to keep pace with their new ideas. They are composed of hundreds of figurines - apart from the Holy Family, the ox and the donkey, you can also find the Three Kings, Angels, shepherds, bagpipe players (the Italian sort), craftsmen and animals plus all sorts of characters (villagers about their daily life, farmers and so on). The setting is also in movement with waterfalls, rivers, windmills and fires, while the lighting changes from dawn to dusk, thus allowing the appearance of the guiding star in the evening. Joseph and Mary await the happy event beside the empty manger where the little figure of Baby Jesus is reverently placed on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile the Three Kings are slowly made to advance towards the stable until they eventually reach it for the Epiphany. Nor should we forget that some Nativity Scenes are re-enacted live (as elsewhere in the world).

The tradition of setting up a Nativity Scene (presepe or presepio in Italian) is thought to originate from Christmas 1223 when St. Francis of Assisi set up a representation of the Nativity in the town of Greccio, near Rieti. They may of course date from even earlier but this is the first to be found mentioned in documents.

Nativity Scenes soon became an important part of the Italian Christmas celebrations with the result that the first cribs (or crèches, as they are called in France) began to appear. One of the oldest was carved in marble by Arnolfo di Cambio in around 1280 and can be seen in the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (usually closed but open for visitors at Christmas). Unfortunately, as many of the early cribs were made from wood and terracotta, they have since been destroyed or lost.
In the early 16th century St. Gaetano of Thiene enlarged on the crib scene by adding various figures around those of the Holy Family and, by the 17th and 18th centuries, crib making had become a flourishing trade in Rome, Genoa, Sicily and especially in Naples. Neapolitan cribs are famous for their details and the variety of figurines. People flock to Via S. Gregorio Armeno in Naples (also known as Christmas Alley) to buy new figures from the skilled craftsmen there.
Nativity Scenes therefore gradually developed into a real art form and can be found over the Christmas period in Florence in private homes, restaurants, on street corners and in grottoes, though the finest are arranged in city’s churches and convents (Sant’Ambrogio, St. Mark’s, Santa Croce), as well as the Cathedral, the Carthusian Monastery at Galluzzo, the Cathedral of Fiesole and others.

The Basilica of San Lorenzo holds a children’s competition for the best Nativity Scene. The entries are then displayed in the cloisters and voted by visitors. The small Churches of Santa Maria de’ Ricci and the Church of Dante set up Nativity Scenes in early December and these remain open until the end of January. You can instead view a large Nativity Scene with mechanical movement at the Don Orione Institute in Via Capo di Mondo, 34 (from December 25th to the end of January).
The Winter in Florence event this year includes an unusual itinerary of Nativity scenes displayed in Florentine antique shop windows, a fascinating exhibition route that is well worth following (until January 20th).

Another totally different but particularly beautiful Nativity can be seen in the tiny Magi chapel painted by Benozzo Gozzoli in Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Via Cavour. Naturally members of the Medici family are also portrayed among the people travelling towards Bethlehem!

Further afield you can find original (and mechanised) scenes at the Church of Lizzano, above Le Ginestre, at Borro in the Arezzo area, live Nativity scenes enacted in nearby Pontassieve, Incisa Valdarno, Reggello, Rufina, Certaldo, Fucecchio, Lari and Montale and many other towns in Tuscany (usually on December 24th). And, on the coast, many sea ports create suggestive underwater Nativity Scenes which of course require the necessary diving equipment to visit.
Therefore let us give you an idea for an original Christmas gift to take home: a set of Nativity figurines (or even just one). We very much doubt that you can find their counterparts - or at least such fine ones - anywhere else in the world.



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