Italian cities celebrate La Befana

(ANSA) - Rome, January 6 - Italians on Tuesday celebrated the Epiphany, a national holiday inspired by the story of the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem with gifts for the newborn Jesus.
    In Italy the festival is also known as La Befana after the legendary old woman who delivers gifts on her broomstick. She is said to visit children on the eve of January 6 to fill their socks with candy and presents if they have been good or a lump of coal or dark candy if they have been bad.
    In Milan, authorities set up what they touted as the world's longest Epiphany stocking - two kilometers long, it was made with thread derived from recycled bottles in the colors of this year's world's fair, Milan Expo 2015.
    In Venice, a regatta was held in the Grand Canal with rowers dressed up as old women competing for best costume.
    In Rome's Piazza Navona, the holiday was focused on children with actities aimed at kids and the arrival of the three kings on horseback.
    In the seafaring port city of Genoa, the Befana arrived on a water scooter, and Befana divers deposited a crown on the sea floor near Gallinara island. Florence celebrated with a procession down the Arno river by 100 vessels from the city's rowing club, while in Naples, firefighters organized a feast for children that also taught them about fire safety. In the southern city of Brindisi, the Hellenic Community carried out a traditional blessing of the port.