Christmas in Italy...Traveling to Rome During the Holiday Season..

Our gregoreous and happy go lucky purple ape, known to many you affectionately sure does love to travel. Oddly, as he was reviewing the posts to his blog he realized that he has neglected to talk about the beauty and style of destinations outside of the United States. Once again, trying to maintain a theme of reflecting on the holiday season our simian friend thought it would be fun to discuss both traveling to a destination outside of the United States and doing so doing the Holiday season. That is, what kind of traditions, fun, events, etc, etc, could the would be traveler find should he or she venture to a foreign land during the holiday season. We chose the beautiful and ancient city of Rome Italy.

If any of you out there have family or friends of Italian desent, or have the priviledge of being so, you can all attest that the traditions, feast and events surrounding the Holiday season for the Italians is bright, fun and festive. Oh, yeah, and the food is just incredible. Venturing outside to Italy itself does offer a slight variation on the traditions and foods one might find in an Italian American household or party during the Holiday season. If you do happen to go on a Rome Italy Vacation, and it is during the festive holiday season here are somethings to expect. What one has to remember is that Rome, as a city, is ancient and much of the traditions for Christmas date back to the actual Roman Empire era or antiquity. One of the traditions that was very common in Italy, but I have reccently found out, is that during the Christmas season the Holiday is ushered in by festivities including fifers, or to best translate, musicians that play a bagpipe type of instrument. The sound carries through the city and really offers a "feel" to the season. As I mentioned, sadly, this tradition is fading from the scene. Now unlike the United States, in Italy a decorative Nativity scene is the focal point of decorations in homes and around the city. Another difference in Italy is the legend of Santa Clause. Children in Italy still look fondly to Christmas to venture to sleep and but look to a female version known as La Befana. This Christmas gift giver is said to fly around on a broom but their night comes on the day of January 6th for the Feast of the Epiphany. The day to celebrate the arrival of the three Wise Men visiting baby Jesus.

There are many other great traditions, but you can see for each country a little something different and wonderful is a part of the tradition. If you happen along to Rome Italy, be sure to enjoy all the holiday has to offer.