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
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