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Celebrating the Season
December is a celebratory month and all of Italy kicks off the season with the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, a national holiday. Pageants, parades and special masses are the order of the day. Throughout the month, Christmas markets are held in city and town plazas; one of the most famous is the toy market in Rome's Piazza Navona. Italian churches are decorated with nativity scenes and flower wreaths, and Christmas lights illuminate cobbled streets. The country's most famous nativity scenes are made in Naples and a large Christmas market is set up near the Via San Gergorio Armeno, home to many of Naples' nativity workshops. Rome also celebrates the season with a citywide Romaeuropa festival with dozens of musical, dance and theater offerings in venues throughout the city.
Shopping in Milan
Milan might be a little wet and chilly in December, but the shopping in Italy's design center reaches fever pitch. There is a Christmas market in the town center, a special candy and confectionery market dubbed Oh Bej! Oh Bej!, held daily at the Sforza Castle. Each weekend in December the city hosts the Brocantage Antiques Fair and there is a week-long arts and crafts fair, L'Artigiano in Fiera, that attracts craftsmen from throughout Italy. In addition, the city's chic shopping in the area north of the Duomo, the Quadrilatero d'Oro, is decorated for the season. The city also celebrates its patron saint, Saint Ambrose, on December 7, with both church ceremonies and, in quintessential Milanese style, a large city market in the town center.
Winter in Tuscany
As stunning as the sun-kissed Tuscan hills are in summer, they also have a haunting beauty when snow dusts the hillsides, bare vines and stone farmhouses in winter. Tuscan menus turn to hearty stews and soups, served in front of warming fires where chestnuts roast. The coastal town of Suvereto celebrates one favorite winter ingredient at its wild boar festival in early December. The locals set up a large grill in the town center and there is medieval pageantry along with grilled boar dishes. Florence's famed Piazza Santa Croce is home to a Christmas market throughout the month, part of the citywide Florence Noel festival that features a variety of Christmas decorations, parades and celebrations. Every two years, in odd-numbered years, the Florence Biennale is held. The festival is witness to Florence's passion for art, both ancient and modern, as more than 800 exhibitors from 72 countries display their contemporary works.
Travel Tips
For information on December celebrations and events, Frommer's Whatsonwhen website offers a calendar that can be searched by date or location. Airline fares and hotel prices do dip in early December from their summer highs, except, of course, for the country's Alpine ski resorts. But prices climb again during Christmas week, particularly in Rome, where visitors come from around the world to attend Christmas Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. Christmas also is a time for Italian families to gather, so reservations for Christmas week should be made well in advance. Be sure to pack a raincoat or umbrella and, if driving, watch out for heavy fog on highways in northern Italy.
