Italian's Christmas Market

Christmas is in the air, streets are filled with lights decorations, windows are magically decorated… Christmas songs enliven the landscape and right over our eyes we see a huge tree and many stands that sells Christmas decorations, regional products, souvenirs … yes…what we’re looking at is a typical Christmas Market.

Originated in Germany, these market are now being held in many other countries, but their history dates back to the Late Middle Ages in the territories between Germany and Alsace, it is in fact in these areas that, what is believed to be the first Christmas market, took place. The first document attesting a Christmas market dates back to 1434, and cites a Striezelmarkt (market 'Striezel', a German sweet) that took place in Dresden, the Monday before Christmas. Later, during the Protestant Reformation, the name was changed into Christkindlmarkt, in opposition to the cult of the saints. We then find the markets of Strasbourg (1570), the one of Nuremberg in 1628, Bautzen (first held in 1384), Frankfurt (first mentioned in 1393) and Munich (1310). "December market" in Vienna might be seen as a kind of forerunner of the Christmas market and it dates back to 1294.

Originally, the markets were the meeting-point of the best local artisan who used to meet there to exhibit their precious work that recalls the Nativity and the Advent. Yet these small objects, created specifically for the market, were quite expensive and far out of reach for the average family of the time, reason why at least initially, only the bourgeoisie was attracted to these markets.

 Over the years, however, the interest around these craft exhibitions grew exponentially, up to their expansion almost all over the country. As for the other European countries, the prevalence of the Christmas markets took place only towards the end of the last century, for example, what is now considered the most important Italian Christmas market in Bolzano, was born only in 1990. The tradition of Christmas markets want them to expose only "handmade” products, and it is for this reason that even today these items are one of the main attractions of the event.
But for an instance let’s focus on Italy… if we follow an imaginary journey from north to south, we can see that this tradition came from Northern Europe, has carved out a big role in the whole peninsula, we can find them almost everywhere:

•    In Lombardy in Torbole on Lake Garda, is the characteristic market of Saint Lucia that takes place on the eve of the feast in December 12.

•    Of course, we cannot forget the Christmas markets of Trentino Alto Adige, which turns red for the holiday season and expose many ideas for gifts, decorations. Amongst them the most important Christmas market are those of Bolzano, Merano, Brunico and Trento

•    In Lucca San Michele Fair opens the festivities in the beautiful Tuscan city, on the day of the Immaculate Conception with markets that stay open until Christmas Eve. In other Florentine cities however, the traditional Christmas market takes place from 23 December until Epiphany. Even in the cities of Pisa, Carrara, Palazzuolo sul Senio and Torrita of Siena, you can fine many markets.

•    In Rome, the capital, from late November until Epiphany, Piazza Navona turns into a very traditional Christmas market full of stands displaying delicacies of every kind.

•    In Campania, Naples is the "capital" of Christmas, in fact, thanks to the classic markets of the historic centre in San Biagio and San Gregorio Armeno, you can find the most beautiful nativity scene dolls of the very old Neapolitan tradition. The skill of local artisans mixed with fantasy, creates very unique masterpieces renowned all over the world.

What else to say? There will be spoiled for choice. Spend Christmas in Italy and you will not regret the choice

Palazzo Donn'Anna

Located at the beginning of Via Posillipo, Palazzo Donn’Anna is one of the most famous buildings in Naples that emerges from the sea in an impressive palace of tuff. Built in the late fifteenth century on an existing building called "La Sirena" owned by Dragonetto Bonifacio, this massive building was renovated by the will of Donna Anna Carafa wife of the viceroy Ramiro Núñez de Guzmán duke of Medina de las Torres. The project was commissioned to the most important architect of the city in that period, Cosimo Fanzago. In 1642 in fact, he readied a design according to the canons of the Neapolitan Baroque that provided, among other things, the construction of a double entry point, one on the sea and one on the carriage road that stretched along the coast of Posillipo and that led to the inner courtyard of the building. In the interior, was eventually constructed a theatre overlooking the Bay of Naples, however, Fanzago failed to complete the work due to the premature death of Donna Anna.

The building left unfinished assumed the spectacular charm of an ancient ruin blurred among the remains of Roman villas that characterize the coast of Posillipo. Later damaged during a popular uprising and later by an earthquake, Palazzo Donn’Anna stands silent and mysterious beside the sea.

However, the fame of Palazzo Donn'Anna is not due exclusively to its imposingness; it is also popular because popular traditions wants it to be, at any cost, scene of many spicy and mysterious events related to its inhabitants and owner. We could start talking about the hottest nights of Queen Giovanna, which, was said, to kill her lovers (a bit like the praying mantis) after sex was over. However, we will focus on the life of its owner Anna Carafa.

Princess of Stigliano, blonde, beautiful and brought to the command, she had been described as "cold and sensual, haughty and bold, cold-eyed and lips shaped to a false and ironic smile." Anna inherited all the properties of her grandfather Luigi Antonio because her father and brother Joseph had died prematurely.

Shortly after marrying Prince Ramiro, the ambitious Anna, given its unbridled passion for lavish parties, built Palazzo Donna Anna, mysterious wonder of golden tuff that cost about 150,000 ducats, where all the Spanish and Neapolitan nobility participated in the magnificent feasts held by Donna Anna. As mentioned above, she built a wonderful theatre in which great shows were played. Actors were all nobles, and her niece, Mercede de las Torres, beautiful, young, longhaired and eyed blacks used to take part to these representations. One day Anna noticed a strange connection between her beautiful Spanish niece and her former lover Gaetano Casapesenna thus beginning to have doubts about a possible relationship between the two.

It was a play to dispel every doubt, where Casapesenna played the part of a knight and Mercedes that of a slave in love with her master, who in the story was faithful to the point of sacrificing her own life to save that of her loved. In the final scene, which saw them kiss for the last time, both turned out to be so true to the whole room burst of applause for the great performance; everyone but Donna Anna who was mad with envy and jealousy.

It is said that after that episode, Carafa had to complain several times against her nephew, so much that the quarrels in fighting for the love of Casapesenna became a frequent habit. However, one day, Mercedes disappeared, saying that she, driven by a sudden religious vocation, had closed herself into a convent. The reality, much more raw, was that the beautiful Spanish, after a violent quarrel with her aunt, was killed in a dungeon of the palace under the order of Donna Anna. Casapesenna, for his part, never ceased to look for his beloved Mercedes neither when he breathed his last shot to death a few years later, in battle.

The hardness and sterility of feelings permanently invaded the heart of Donna Anna Carafa, victim of a hate that pushed her more and more into the arms of sorrow and loneliness. Shortly after, her husband was called back in Spain leaving Donna Anna in melancholy; she soon died for a pedicle disease. The palace, which remained unfinished, soon went to ruin.

Sad story of a love triangle and death still intended to leave indelible marks , and if on the one hand the ghost of Donna Anna wandering restlessly through the palace , making feel her icy presence, on the other hand the shadow of the beautiful Mercedes still vague in the basement of the place that once saw her happy. The undaunted Casapesenna runs in the eternal and frantic search of his great love never forgotten.

Napoli Sotterranea

A forty feet deep beneath the shouting and characteristic streets of the historical center of Naples, we found an abandoned parallel world, isolated in his millennial quiet yet closely connected with the city.


Everyone is used to appreciate the exceptional beauty of Naples, and its culture and art, but few know the story of its underground, born with the city and grown with it. Today “Napoli Sotterranea” is a complex of underground tunnels and other environments dug into the tuff, forming part of the ancient aqueduct that remained in use until the late nineteenth century and which was used in part as a bomb shelter in 1940/43.


But let’s take a closer look to its history… we know that the first artefacts of  the underground excavations dates back to about 5000 years ago, almost to the end of the prehistoric era. Years later, Greeks withdrew the tuff in large quantities, using it to fortify the city and to create temples and different underground burial, striking example is the Greek quarry that the caver Enzo Albertini, after years of underground research, brought to light, at about 40 meters deep below the cemetery of S. Maria del Pianto. From the quarry, the Greeks withdrew all the tuffaceous material needed to build the Neapolis of the fourth century BC, leaving graffiti and monograms on the walls.
So did the Romans, who during the Augustan period, built an aqueduct with an impressive network of tunnels and roads, visible today in the caves of Cocceio and Seiano.


In the seventeenth century, a new aqueduct was built to cope with the population growth of the city; the old one and countless rain tanks were not able to quench the thirst. For this reason in 1629 a wealthy Neapolitan nobleman, Carmignano, built the new aqueduct, ceasing to dig the underground in early 1900, thus abandoning a network of tunnels and cisterns of over 2 million square meters that spanned the length and breadth of the city.


The outbreak of the Second World War gave back importance to the underground network almost forgotten in fact people started using Naples subsoil galleries as bomb shelters. The cavities were lit and arranged to accommodate dozens of people who hurried down in the subsoil to the sound of the alarm siren. Today we can still see remains of the furniture, various items and graffiti as proof of the great fear lived in that period. We also know about histories of war’s survivors who really lived in those cavities such as the story of Carmela Montagna who gave birth to her child in the staircase of the entrance to the subsoil of Via Sant’Anna di Palazzo.


Currently, some of these cavities are no longer reachable because clogged with debris illegally downloaded from wells that connected streets and buildings to the ground.
There are different paths to access the network of underground rooms even if the two main entrances to the site are in Piazza San Gaetano and in Via Sant'Anna di Palazzo; the visit of Naples underground lasting about an hour will allow you to discover the real parallel Naples up to 40 m deep.

The Italian Medieval New York

San Gimignano, the “town of towers”, stands majestically on a hill straddling Val d'Elsa and Val d'Era at 334 meters above sea level; its walls and fortified buildings forms a unique horizon nestled in the heart of the Etruscan territory. San Gimignano, situated along one of the Via Francigena, was once a renowned stopping point for pilgrims traveling to and from Rome; to its name it’s related a curious legend.

The story goes that on January 31st a young man of Colle Val d'Elsa, who was in Modena, attended on that day the solemn funeral for the death of Bishop Gimignano. Being dazzled by a large ring on the dead bishop’s finger, the young man decided to stole it taking advantage of a moment of confusion in the crowd. Unfortunately, the ring did not came off, letting him to pull it so hard that the jewel came along with the entire finger. The boy then came back to his village but, still terrified by what he had done, took refuge in a country church. There he remained for three days and three nights, but when he decided to leave, he noticed that the door was locked and he had lost the gift of sight. It is said that, to his first responders the boy appeared destroyed; he returned the stolen finger, regaining the sight, and broke into tears of repentance. Both the ring and the finger are still part of the assets of the reliquary Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta in San Gimignano.

The village of San Gimignano that originally belonged to the jurisdiction of the bishops of Volterra, gained its independence in 1199, the year of the proclamation of its first mayor. The city, known as the independent municipality of San Gimignano delle Belle Torri, experienced a long period of economic splendor, which was due mainly to the trade of fine local agricultural products such as saffron also sold abroad, in France, the Netherlands, to Syria, and to the activities of financial speculation. Thus was born an urban aristocracy, the city was in fact ruled by two great rival families, the Guelphs Ardinghelli and the Ghibellines Salvucci, who were in constant struggle trying to prevail over one another through the construction of towers. The tallest tower symbolized the most powerful faction; in total 72 tower-houses were built, but just 14 of them have come to our days, which are:

 •    The Devil’s Tower, which was named after a curious event, occurred to its owner it is said in fact that after returning from a trip, he noticed with great surprise that his tower was taller than when he had left it. This strange event was immediately connected to a diabolical participation and so the tower become connected to the Devil itself.

•    The Tower of Becci and the Tower of Cugnanesi.

•    The two towers of Ardinghelli, a noble Ghibelline family.

•    The twin towers of Salvucci, a noble family at war with the Ardinghelli family.

•    The Tower of Pucci, a truncated tower leaned on Palazzo Tortoli. It is characterised by mullioned windows in Gothic style.

•    The Tower of Pellari.

•    Tower Chigi, one of the most beautiful, but the lowest, of towers.

•    The “Torre Grossa”, completed in 1311, and built entirely of travertine. It is almost 54 meters high and is located on the right of the Town Hall, in Piazza del Duomo.

•    Torre “Rognosa”, it name is due to people who were affected by scabies and inhabited the tower that was once a prison.


With the considerable economic resources gained, the city began the construction of major public works. The town was in fact divided into four districts, each corresponding to a main door: that of Piazza di Castello, of St. Matteo and St. Giovanni, and it even hosted Dante Alighieri as an ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.


But the independence and the glory lasted only until 1353 when San Gimignano, after having been decimated by an epidemics of black plague, was subjected to the Republic of Florence. Since that date, the city’s economic, cultural and architectural growth ended, but despite this period of decline, a large range of artistic initiatives were carried out. In the late nineteenth century, the town has seen a progressive revival thanks to the increasing flow of tourists who came to admire a centre that has preserved intact its original architectural beauty. San Gimignano is today a UNESCO world heritage site.

Saletta di Costanzana

Saletta is a small village located in the province of Vercelli, and it is a small fraction of Costanzana. The name Saletta has clear Lombard origins, like other similar place names with the same ending, such as: Salasco, Saliceto, Saluggia and Salera. The term “Sala” was used to indicate the most important place of the “Curtis”, which was usually the residence of the most important members of “Fara”(Lombard military organization).

The story of Saletta of Costanzana, officially begins in the Middle Ages, but there are several stories and unconfirmed reports that gives reason to believe that this place was inhabited since ancient times, in the era in which giants are said to have existed. In the book of Genesis (VI, 4) it is written that the earth before the flood was inhabited by giants and the historic, Giovan Battista Modena, who lived between the sixteenth and the seventeenth century said he found the bones of a giant in the area adjacent to Saletta of Costanzana. Precisely in 1622 came the discovery of a skeleton of gigantic proportions; the historian described it as "a giant body, with an unspeakable height and thickness that I have ever seen, measured". It is said that the bones were so old that they become similar to the stone.

This story has no real historical foundation, but it was found that the area between Saletta and Tower, was once a glacier and that between the nearby hills of Monferrato is possible to find fossils of shells ... according to this theory, the story of the giants in Saletta di Costanzana might have a grain of truth.
Let’s move to the Middle Ages, here we found a first mentioning of the village in 1148 AD and then a second one in an 1152 diploma of Frederick Barbarossa. At the end of the thirteenth century, the family Saletta, owner of some structures of the village, donated all their possessions to the Monastery of San Martino in Lagatasco who later sold them for 625 Imperial Lire  to the Abbey of Sant’ Andrea. In 1481, the fief of Saletta passed to the Marquis of Monferrato, who in turn sold it to Roger Ponzoni of Milan, but it is only in 1625 that the property become possession of the Marquis Giovanni Francesco Mossi. The Marquis Mossi wanted to turn the complex of Saletta into a modern agricultural complex optimizing the harvest and focusing on the development of the social aggregation of the peasants. The project was entrusted to the architect Casale Vitili. In 1829, after the death of the last person of the Mossi family, Saletta of Costanzana passed to the Pallavicini family letting a series of eerie legends begin, especially with the birth of Giuseppe Pallavicini Mossi.
Conceived by an affair between an archbishop (Mossi) and a woman of the Pallavicini family, the child was placed in an orphanage. At age 15, while he was to pick cherries on a tree he was given the good news that he had become, by hereditary right, the owner of the large estate of “Saletta di Costanzana”. The boy contemptuous of the life and legacy uttered this sentence: "It was better than I had died when I was born". It is said that a gypsy, hearing the sentence pronounced, predicted the extinction of the race Pallavicini Mossi within four generations, and indeed, some year ago, the last Pallavicini-Mossi exponent died.

Not much is left of what it has said to be a cursed village. The village today can be divided into three principal parts : The Castle, The Church and “Il Tempietto”.  However, let’s start from the beginning…  and try to summarize the many, written and oral stories, that found place in people imaginary and sometimes even a small space on the sidebars of local newspapers.

The Church
Dedicated to St. Bartholomew, this is the first structure we meets leaving the road and it’s possible to park right in front of it. Its existence has been reported since 1280 and we know that the church belonged for a period to the abbey of St. Andrew, coming later under the diocese of Vercelli.
The structure is fairly preserved, and the access door is today locked to prevent access to the vandals who plundered it in the past. At its core, worthy of note, is a board which is believed to come from the School of Lanino and which depicts the enthroned Virgin holding its child, crowned by two angels, to her right we see San Bartolomeo on her left San Sebastiano.
Locals tell of rather gruesome events related to this church...

It is said that before the bolting of the door, the place was regularly used as place to pursue black masses and demonic rituals; the church was commonly believed to be place of worship of a specific religious sect, who adored the statue of a bull or goat with red eyes, preserved inside the church. This rumour, never confirmed, may have been inspired by the decoration of the tympanum of the church that shows a series of cow skulls in relief. What is known for sure is that the black masses went on regularly inside the church; to discourage the followers, periodic checks were scheduled by the police. In an article of "La Stampa", dated 8 December 1991, appeared some curious testimony, of local children who said to have witnessed these alleged rituals.

Adjacent to the church there is a small cemetery, which only access road is blocked by a big locked iron gate.

The Castle
Its first appearance dates back to a 1272 document, though probably its construction may dates back to an earlier period. Located nearby the church, the castle is formed by a central body surrounded by the ruins of several houses. What once was the structure of the castle, no longer exists, the structures have changed over the years and today it looks more like a farm; it is today uninhabited.

Il Tempietto
“Il Tempietto” construction is linked to the history of an unlucky couple of lovers.
The story goes that once a young girl, who belonged to the Mossi family, desperately fell in love with a knight of the “Torrione”. The man did reciprocate her love but unfortunately her family did not accepted their union, that was the reason why after being hindered in many ways they decided to kill themselves to live happily their love in the afterlife (just like Romeo and Juliet).
It so happened that one night in May the two committed suicide, leaving the Monsignor Mossi so shocked that he decided to build the actual “Tempietto” right where the two killed themselves. It is said that many have reported seeing the spirits of the two lovers appearing right next to the “Tempietto” in the night of May.
However, let’s talk now about the actual story…
Also called the tabernacle of San Sebastiano, “Tempietto” is located about fifty meters from the church and can be reached by passing a field, hidden by vegetation; its shape begins to glimpse when you are close enough to the grove. It is thought that the current structure was built on a more ancient temple dating back to the Romanesque. “Tempietto” is round shaped with twelve columns and a high base, with stairs that connect it to the ground; on the inside there was once an altar which is now completely destroyed.
On the back of the temple, at its base, we can find an opening. Looking at its inside, you can easily see a staircase that descend in the basement which has thrust function for the entire structure. Legends which dates back to the '70s, tell of an intricate network of underground which unravel from the temple to unknown directions.
We know that in the Vercelli area the average length of an underground passage ranged from 1 mile to 2, with exceptions with peaks of 7 km, as well as a few tens of meters.

According to the average distances, the Castle Tower (2.3 Km), but also some church or the castle of the nearest Costanzana, would have been a good chance to be the exit of the tunnel. The problem is that there is no input in this tiny room of “Tempietto”, moreover, along the side walls there are no signs of restoration or post masonry of any kind, while at the center, where we assumed a trap door, there is nothing but clay and earth.
Although there was a widespread fashion to bury the tunnels when they were no longer needed, there is the remote possibility that the current flooring was made up of the debris used to enclose access. It is much more likely that the tunnel had an input in the nearby church or castle, rather than under the tabernacle of San Sebastian. We still haven’t find traces of these underground today.

The Path of the Gods

Legend has it that once Gods of “Monti Lattari” used to follow a path across the hillside parallel to the sea, to go and admire the beauty of the Sirens of the gulf of Naples and to enjoy their bewitching songs while bathing in Positano’s waters;  this ancient path was called “The Path of the Gods”. Its name derives probably by its location, the path is in fact situated half way at the foot of Mount St. Angelo a Tre Pizzi you can admire one of the most spectacular landscape in the world, which is the western part of the Amalfi Coast from Praiano to Capri. Along the promenade, you can cover all the typical features of the Mediterranean, from the flora with herbs and aromas of traditional local cuisine, to the fauna characterized by the presence of weasels, foxes and hedgehogs in a place where the clear sky is dominated by peregrine falcons, swallows, owls and crows. The route can be made in both directions but generally, the departure is from Bomerano (you can also enter along the path from Praiano passing the Convent of St. Dominic) and you come up to Montepertuso.

The most striking part of the path is for sure the one that goes from “Grotta Biscotto” to Nocelle, which is exceptionally interesting and scenic from beginning to end. The first one is a natural cave an exemplary site of rare geological effect, full of stories that invigorate the beauty of these places, it treasures in fact, well-preserved ruins of ancient artefacts used as animal shelters and deposits. Nocelle is on the other hand, a characteristic small village, which was once linked to Positano Village only by a long staircase.

Left behind the remains of ancient settlements in the rock of “Grotta Biscotto”, you will soon meet a majestic amphitheatre of horrid crags, and then the spectacular "Pinnacolo”, on which we see what is left of a plaque in memory of Giustino Fortunato, who seems to have given its name to this path. Keep on following the path we reach the fork to Colle Serra, there, in a blue landscape, it will be possible to admire the breathtaking landscape formed by Li Galli Island, the Vetara rock and the ridges of Mount San Costanzo which gently slopes towards Punta Campanella. The vegetation at this point changes quite radically and you pass by a few shrubs and grass at a spot full of dense oaks, arbutus, heather and rosemary. Along the trail are steep some places, there are ravines, abandoned terraces and empty houses. All this brings us back to a bygone world tied to the hard work of the earth, but was relieved by the mild climate and the beauty of the Amalfi.

Following a very tortuous and full of ups and downs path, we finally reach “Vallone Grarelle”, with its caves and deep coves, and later the little village of Nocelle.

From the little village you can get off on Coastal Route making about 1500 steps and arriving in Arienzo, or continue up to Montepertuso reaching Monte Gambera site of the legendary battle between the Virgin Mary and the Devil. Traces of this mystical fight are today visible and are said to be: the imprint in the rock of Lucifer’s tail, traces of the Madonna and the girl, by her lit, footsteps, as well as the highly visible and famous hole, which is said to have been stamped in the mountain by the index finger of the Madonna.

Legend has it that the noise of the controversy was so intense, that the brigands who used to live in the surrounding caves were awakened in their sleep and watched astonished the battle. It is also said that from that moment on, the earthly personification of the Devil, the brigands, stopped to live there and abandoned the caves of Montepertuso. It is right here in Montepertuso that ends the Path of the Gods, and is from this point that you can reach the center of Positano.