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Christmas in Tuscany would not be complete without a slice of panforte — the peppery, dried fruit and nut-based spice cake born in the central Tuscan hill town of Siena in the Middle Ages — served with a glass of vin santo, a sweet Italian dessert wine. Several legendary origin stories surround panforte. Some culinary historians believe it was insp...

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As you would expect, an Italian Christmas becomes a true Christmas in the kitchen. When I was a child, Christmas was my grandmother’s time to shine (or I should say, to shine even brighter, because the woman was a goddess in the kitchen all year round): she would prepare cappelletti by hand, twisting and turning them one by one, with the skill and...

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Everyone loves Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He’s got the whole underdog thing going for him, and when the fog is thick on Christmas Eve, he’s definitely the creature you want guiding Santa’s sleigh. But what happens when Saint Nick reaches Italy, and he’s faced with steep hills that no reindeer—magical or otherwise—can climb? That’s when Santa a...

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“Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!” declared Lauren Lombardo, wishing the crew of Life-Wire News Service a merry Christmas and happy New Year. After graduating from the College of Staten Island, Lombardo moved to Naples to paint and ended up living there for the next eight years. While there, she taught painting, wrote two children’s books and becam...

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Come to the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum (420 Tompkins Ave, Staten Island, NY 10305) and view our presepio until January 6th! Free with admission to the museum: $10 non-members, $5 for members. The nativity scene or crèche, called in Italian the presepe or presepio, brings to life the story of the Nativity as told in the canonical as well as apocryphal...

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Si è acceso l’albero di Natale più famoso del mondo, quello del Rockefeller Center di New York. Ma in pochi conoscono la sua storia. La tradizione di questo albero inizia negli anni della grande depressione dall’idea di un italiano: Cesidio Perruzza. Lui nasce negli anni ottanta dell’Ottocento a San Donato Val di Comino, un piccolo paese in provinc...

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The Vatican unveiled the Nativity scene and lit the Christmas tree with energy-saving lights in St. Peter's Square during a late afternoon ceremony Dec. 5. The 85-foot-tall spruce tree came from the forests of the Veneto region in northeast Italy and another 20 smaller trees were donated by communities in the region's province of Vicenza.It was ado...

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Atrani si prepara a vivere la magia del Natale con l’accensione delle luminarie che faranno diventare il borgo più piccolo d’Italia un vero e proprio presepe a grandezza naturale. Le luci saranno accese questo pomeriggio giovedì 5 dicembre all’imbrunire e renderanno Atrani un borgo da favola fino al 12 gennaio 2020. Luci colorate tra le arcate, vic...

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Christmas is a big deal throughout Italy, and the region of Aosta Valley provides the perfect backdrop for a magical and festive celebration with its mountain towns, spectacular resorts and rustic chalets. The most famous of Aosta Valley’s Christmas splendours are the artisanal markets, including the prominent Marché Vert Noël, which is located wit...

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Trumpets will sound this Saturday in Gubbio on the Eve of the Immaculate Conception, as the world’s largest Christmas tree display once again comes to life. The attraction, which takes up an entire mountainside in the medieval Italian town, is 2,100 feet tall and more than 1,000 feet wide. The tree display shines throughout the holiday season, unti...

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