Christmas is an exciting time to visit Italy. Towns are illuminated with silver and gold fairy lights. Wreaths and other garlands bedeck houses and balconies and Christmas trees play centerstage at every piazza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christmas in Italy means Italian Christmas markets. Nearly every town boasts one, where the cacophony of crackling chestnuts and bagpipe-playing shepherds, called zampognari<\/em>, get you into the spirit as much as a glass of vin brul\u00e8<\/em> (warm wine). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, it\u2019s not the drinking and dancing that makes visitors want to spend Christmas in Italy. It\u2019s the religious traditions around the holiday. Families still celebrate midnight mass at church and pay respects to nativity scenes. This tradition dates back to the fifth century when Pope Sixtus III introduced a midnight mass in the chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the most important basilicas in Rome. <\/p>\n\n\n