Over 10 mn tourists to visit Italy 'presepi'

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 23 - Over 10 million tourists will visit Italy's presepi or nativity scenes over the holiday period, according to a CNA farm group report ANSA has been able to preview.
    Many of these will be living presepi for which the Bel Paese is rightly famed, starting with the iconic nativity scene founded in the northern Lazio village of Greccio by St Francis of Assisi in 1223.
    Other famed living nativity scenes, which feature live performers, are at the 'dying town' of Civita di Bagnoregio north of Rome, the Sassi in Matera, Padre Pio's birthplace of Pietrelcina in Puglia, San Biagio di Mantiova where all the town's central homes are involved, and Tricase in Puglia where inhabitants will also create a little Bethlehem.
    Info on the living presepi can be found at www.presepiviventi.it.
    As for the 'static' nativity scenes, the one in St Peter's Square in Rome is the most famous and visited but Naples can be considered the presepe capital with its famous street of artisans, San Gregorio Armeno.
    Here too, Italy offers a huge range of options, including innovative ones.
    Some examples are the nativity scene of Comacchio, along the canals, the nativity scene-village of Faedo, the floating nativity scene of Cesenatico, the creche at Assisi dedicated to the Canticle of the Creatures, the sand nativity scene of Lignano Sabbiadoro, and the presepe of light in Manarola, in the Ligurian Cinque Terre.
    photo: Living nativity scene at Greccio (ANSA).