Christmas in Italy is a wonderful time to visit for many reasons, but don’t expect that you will have the whole place to yourself.                   Au contraire! You’re not the only one who would rather  travel than go through the trouble of decking your own halls but the experience far outweighs any little inconveniences you may encounter, be they crowded airports, crowded piazzas and museums, or the cold weather.

Christmas Decorations

I know you’ve heard it before, but Italians just have a flair for style which is usually understated and never overbearing.  In big cities and small towns lights are strung across the streets, evergreen garlands are draped over doorways, and the churches are adorned with poinsettias.

There’s always a big Christmas tree in the main piazza of small towns and villages.

 

I’m going to have to take back what I said about understated though, because I just remembered a hotel in Venice which I can only describe as Santa’s Village with lawn gnomes instead of elves.  And then there’s the Fendi store in Florence:

Weather

I am a Southern Californian through and through: I stay off the road when it rains and I only go skiing in the springtime.  If you are not from a warm  climate you can skip this section, as it will only seem like a lot of whining, but I am here to warn everyone else that they should advertise “Sunny Italy” as “East Dakota” during the winter months. (One time, when we were in Venice, it was so cold that the edges of the smaller canals were iced over. It was so cold that if the guy had offered to pay me 150 euros, I still wouldn’t have gone for a ride on his gondola.)

It’s easy to get in the Christmas spirit when you’re wearing parkas and scarves, but that shouldn’t spill over into your sleepwear in my opinion.  When the temps drop into the 60’s in Los Angeles we flip the switch on the thermostat in the opposite direction from summertime and hot air starts magically blowing out of those metal things in the walls with slits in them.

In Italy they have those radiator thingamajigs standing on the floor through which heating oil (what even is that?) and water flow, but they are monitored by someone very important in the building who is harder to corner than The Wizard of Oz, and who apparently thinks it’s funny that thin-blooded Americans  sleep with socks on their hands.

Nativity Scenes

The first nativity scene was said to have been made by St Francis of Assisi in 1223.  Traditionally, artists and craftsmen in Naples have been carving and painting the Holy Family, Three Kings, and various barn animals ever since.  It is our great fortune that many of these scenes, some miniature, some life-sized, have been carefully preserved for hundreds of years and are put on display in piazzas and churches for our enjoyment.

I can’t remember entering a church in Italy during the month of December that didn’t have its own nativity scene complete with a story of how it survived fires and floods for a century or two.  They can get very elaborate and often depict the town in which they are found, through buildings and the local costumes and faces.

Nativity Scene

Winter Fashion

Don’t pack scarves and gloves for your Christmas trip because you will find that Italian stores and markets have stuff that you can’t find at Macy’s.  If you can,  wait to buy anything until you get to Florence, go directly to the San Lorenzo Market and shop your little heart out.  I know you think your Uggs are really cute but they won’t hold up very well in the rain and the snow.  When they fall apart (or you’re embarrassed by how unstylish you look) you’ll have a good excuse to shop for Italian boots.  You haven’t lived until you’ve shopped for boots in Italy – every shoe store has their own selection of the most beautiful footwear you have ever seen, and if that’s not enough to entice you in,  the scent of fresh leather wafting out the door will seal the deal.

The onset of cold weather also brings the non-faux fur coats out of the closets of many unapologetic Italians, in particular, elderly women, some of whom never lose their sense of style.

Hot Chocolate

Italian hot chocolate is so rich and decadent that if you ask for it during the warm season, the barista will look at you as if you were, well, American.   Any coffee bar will serve you a thick concoction of whole milk, melted bittersweet chocolate, and sugar topped by a huge dollop of hand-whisked heavy whipped cream.  Serving size: six to eight ounces, which is should be more than enough to warm your tummy and satisfy your sweet tooth.  The best place to indulge in hot chocolate (and empty your wallet) is the Rivoire in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence where I seriously considered drinking from a cup of cocoa left by a little boy (he couldn’t have been more than four years old and looked very, very clean) until my kids caught me eying the cup and stopped me.  The fact that I’m owning up to this story should be sufficient proof that this was a damn good cup of hot chocolate.  Check it out yourself.

Did I leave anything out?  Oh yeah – the food at Christmas!  Next time…