Dec

11

Santa Lucia is coming to town

December 11, 2008 | 5 Comments


December has arrived and Christmas is definitely in the air. Christmas lights are decorating Verona and few days ago the Nativity set International Exhibition that takes place inside the Arena di Verona has been inaugurated. The exhibition hosts more than 400 nativity sets from all over the world. The famous comet star has been built up as every year and now it seems to fly out from the Arena. This year Verona celebrates its 25th year from its first appearance. It has now become  a symbol of our city.


For the Veronese there are some more important events before Christmas though. Piazza Bra is being happily invaded by the Santa Lucia stands “banchetti di santa Lucia”, coming from every part of Italy. It’s a magic and joyous week for children and adults: mandorlato, torrone, croccanti, cotton candy, bomboloni and much more will be sweeten up the atmosphere for a week. Sweets won’t be the only delight there are numerous stands that sells typical regional products one of them is pane con la porchetta (bread with porchetta) a specialty from Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio. Food is not the only subject but there are stands that sells toys, Christmas decorations, clothes and gift ideas. Then on the13th they will all disappear like when you wake up from a dream.

Children won’t be sad about it though because between the night of the 12nd. and 13th they will receive the visit from Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) herself. She comes every year accompanied with her donkey and brings gifts, a plate full of sweets and coal for the bad ones. Children can not see her and have to be in bed very early, a difficult task for the longest night of the year. Few days before the 13th  Santa Lucia usually passes by and throws little surprises to the scared little ones and disappears again unseen. The night of the 12nd. children together with parents prepare a plate with some food on the table for Santa Lucia and a cup of milk and some bread for the donkey. The donkey has an important role he is the one flying and helping Santa Lucia because she doesn’t see.

Santa Lucia goes stops around the world to bring presents to the children but not everywhere, in Italy we’re one of the few lucky cities and the only ones to have the Santa Lucia stands.


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Comments

5 Comments so far

  1. South of Rome on December 11, 2008 9:00 am

    Sounds wonderful! I remember as a child we would dress in white and parade around our school with (unlit!) candles (safety first!). Sadly I was never chosen to be St. Lucia: Heather Davis always had longer hair with better curls- ahhh darn her! To her credit she did go on to become Miss Maryland! ( A title I am happy never to have held ;)

  2. Mimi on December 11, 2008 5:06 pm

    Thank you so much for the pictures and the story. I almost felt like I was there. What is the comet star composed of? It’s marvelous.

    Mimi in NY

  3. Louise Picardo Hundertmark on December 11, 2008 7:17 pm

    Thanks for the memories! As a child growing up in a Scandinavian neighborhood, I never understood why THEY celebrated Santa Lucia, when she was OUR saint! Still love her song, and all the other Italian Christmas songs. My grandparents Campobasso village still celebrates the procession to every family’s Nativity set.

  4. Luigi Silvagni on December 15, 2008 3:18 pm

    It is a far cry from the 2nd world war in Italy when I was there.” Ora ci sono tutti I beni di Dio ” Beautiful pictures

  5. admin on December 15, 2008 5:00 pm

    Thank you all for sharing your memories with me.

    Louise, the star is made of steel

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