Our First Italian Christmas

We had been coming to Anghiari since 2019 but never spent the holiday season here. As non-residents we had been obligated to leave periodically and our times away always coincided with Christmas. Finally in 2021 we were residents and looked forward to experiencing our first Christmas in Anghiari. Although we had a balcony well suited for displaying Christmas baubles I had no plans to take advantage of it, having abandoned our Christmas decorations during the several moves of recent years.

Anghiari, though, was festooned with lights strung across streets and along balconies and ultimately I felt inspired to join the fun with an inexpensive artificial swag and a few homemade yarn tassels.

Anghiari Lights Up

Christmas Greetings from our Balcony

Christmas season in Italy officially begins on December 8, marking The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, not only a holy day in the Christian calendar but an official holiday throughout the country.¹ As on all Italian national holidays businesses were closed including, to our surprise, the Wednesday market in our piazza. The day was rainy and cold but ringing church bells broke through the gloom to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season.

Two days after the official beginning of the holiday season there was to be the “Holy Representation of Living Pictures,” in the alleys and squares of the village. Photos of the event from past years showed citizens posed in biblical scenes and a torch lit procession through the streets. This year the day was rainy, foggy, windy and cold and we thought the event might be postponed. But having seen no announcement to that effect, off we went at 7:00 to the town centre, dressed warmly and carrying an umbrella. It was raining and snowing intermittently and as we reached Piazza Baldaccio we saw only a few other stray souls likewise sheltering under umbrellas and no signs of a gathering crowd. We wandered about the town for a short time wondering if we had missed a hidden corner of activity but later learned that the event had indeed been cancelled. We were disappointed, of course, but returning to the warmth of our home was, in the moment, reward in itself.

From the beginning of the season large installations began to appear along the streets and alleys of the town. Most of them depicted the story of Christ’s birth, but the one below catered to the kids–complete with Santa’s workshop, a mailbox for letters and holiday songs playing continuously. Babbo Natale (Father Christmas), like Santa Claus in the U S, wears a fur-trimmed red suit and drives a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. Clement Moore’s poem, “Twas The Night Before Christmas” popularised the image of Santa Claus in the late 19th century and his appearance is today pretty much universal.

“Merry Christmas” in English rather than the Italian”Buon Natale.”

But the religious meaning of Christmas dominates and Presepi, depictions of the nativity, appeared throughout Anghiari. The scene below was tucked into a room within the tunnel that runs along a portion of our ancient town wall.

Nativity in Wood

A short uphill walk from there was perhaps my favourite tableau created by students at Anghiari’s Arts Academy. These large, ca 3 ‘ tall, figures were built in several tiers to make firing the terracotta feasible.

And the Baby Jesus enhanced with colour

Near one of our favourite restaurants another large Presepi stood in an alcove normally occupied by large secular sculptures or paintings.

Larger than life Nativity Scene

Most merchants also display Presepi in their windows. This year Anghiari’s Presepi featured nativity scenes from around the world.

On the the left a German Presepi and on the right Presepi from Portugal and Russia

In the U S a Christmas Yule log often refers to the log shaped chocolate confection; in Italy it retains its original meaning though the dessert is not unknown. In the fireplaces of many Italian homes, the Ceppo or Yule log is lit on Christmas Eve and allowed to continue burning into the following day. But Ceppo also refers to a pyramidal structure with a nativity scene on the bottom level and toys and treats stacked in tiers above. In some Italian homes the Ceppo replaces the more familiar Christmas tree.

A Ceppo Decorated for Christmas

One of the most interesting of Italian traditions is that of La Bafana or Christmas witch. Her role in the Christmas story derives from the legend that she was busy sweeping her home as the Three Wise Men passed by on their way to Bethlehem. They invited her to join them but she chose to continue cleaning. Later, when she learned of the birth of Christ she regretted her decision and repented by giving gifts to children on January 6, Day of the Epiphany and officially the last day of the Christmas season. In some interpretations La Bafana’s sweeping also signifies getting rid of the debris of the past to start anew in the coming year.

La Bafana

Christmas caroling is traditional in Italy, as it is in the U S, and we were treated to an orchestral version on the Saturday night before Christmas. Terry was taking an after dinner snooze and I was getting ready to climb into bed to read when we began to hear music coming from the piazza next door. Terry ran out to see what was going on and found this group of musicians playing carols on the balcony of the theater.

Christmas Serenade on the Theater Balcony

Of course much of the joy of Christmas lies in the pleasure it brings to children. Near Santa’s house on the Sunday before Christmas “Elves” helped children mail their letters to Santa and Meryl the Magician entertained them with bubbles and magic tricks.

Kids enjoying Meryl the Magician and Elves

While Anghiari maintained a more or less constant state of festivity Terry and I planned a quiet Christmas day at home with the exchange of a few gifts. Early on I decided to give Terry a set of bongo drums, inspired by hearing him beat out rhythms as he listened to favourite CDs on our upper floor. Terry was briefly a drummer with a band during Freshman and Sophomore years at college and later played bongos–maybe it was time for him to have at it again.

Terry, his hands a blur, playing bongos in his younger years

The bongos came promptly and in plenty of time for Christmas but Terry, thinking it was a lamp we had ordered, opened the package when it arrived. He seemed pleased to have the bongos but as a Christmas gift they were now only old news. So I went back to the internet to search for a replacement, this time looking for a drinks trolley since his collection of liquors crowded the tiny table we were using. Instead of a traditional trolley I found a vintage medical cart, larger than a typical drinks trolley and with drawers and a lower shelf for storage. I submitted the order, happy to have found such a good solution and with free shipping to boot. But a day later, disappointment replaced satisfaction when the shop owner discovered he could not ship it free to Italy and cancelled the purchase.

As I looked for a substitute I soon realised that the best alternatives were at least as expensive as the medical trolley with shipping added on–and I still really wanted this trolley. So I showed Terry pictures, explaining what had happened and he was as taken with the trolley as I was. I contacted the dealer to re-order and the sale and shipment was arranged but now no longer a surprise, nor would it arrive until after the holiday. With two compromised attempts behind me, I ordered a couple of small items, a little La Bafana doll and a wallet (nearly as dull as a pair of socks); the doll arrived quickly, but the wallet did not and was languishing in a post office in Arezzo. Now my Christmas for Terry was down to the little Christmas witch. Likewise, something he had ordered for me had not yet been delivered. Clearly gift giving would not be a focus of our holiday this year.

Even with our own gift exchange minimal, the spirit of Christmas giving enlivened the holiday. Merchants in Anghiari handed out small presents to their customers–a bag of candy or cookies and for us even a loaf of Christmas panettone from Terry’s favourite sandwich shop.

Christmas Panettone made with pears and chocolate-delicious!

Terry was inspired to buy bottles of Prosecco for those who had been especially helpful to us and on Christmas Eve we distributed them to our friends in the neighbourhood. Django went along dressed in his Christmas garb, looking charming enough to gain a treat along the way.

Django getting his Christmas on

If my focus has been on the ups and downs of finding a gift for Terry, it isn’t because gift giving is a one way street in our household. On the contrary, Terry’s generous nature leads him to surprise me occasionally with an impromptu gift. And he, too now waited for a package he had ordered to arrive in time for Christmas, frustrated by its non-appearance. Terry’s local purchases, though, meant that on Christmas morning I opened a soft saffron yellow sweater from him along with a box of beautiful candies shown below. The gift that hadn’t yet arrived appeared on the Monday after Christmas – a sweater jacket of many colours- Terry will make me a fashionista.

Too beautiful to eat (as yet)

And finally the medical cart arrived the day before New Years Eve. After dismantling the substantial crate it came in, the trolley finally made its way into our kitchen and its future as a drinks trolley.

Trolley in place, fitting perfectly just as we had imagined it

Following its retirement from a medical office, the trolley had been used as a prop in theatre and television productions. A couple of layers of paint – see the blue where a final coat has chipped away- perhaps attest to its career in theatre. We have decided for now that we will leave it in its slightly rugged state, letting its history show.

Our first Italian Christmas did not include getting together with family or friends for a festive dinner but then that became an inevitability once we made the decision to move to Italy. Instead phone calls sufficed along with wishes across social media. We don’t know how many more holidays we will spend in Italy, but our first will always be a benchmark. Italy does Christmas with great enthusiasm and it was our gain to share the experience.

Addendum

From beginning to end, the colours of Christmas in Italy carried us through the holiday starting with the photo below. When the Anghiari Commune announced that the clock tower would be lit in red for the holiday I presumed it would continue through the entire season. However it happened only on a single occasion and that in late November. I was fortunate enough to see it on that one early morning and to capture the sight on my mobile phone. Yes, the sky was really that blue and the tower really that red–no filters. It is my favourite of all our Christmas pictures and I hope you enjoy it as well.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU

Endnotes

¹ Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s lack of original sin not to a preternatural form of creating human life