10/12/2013
1 minutes
Christmas in Italy II
Celebrating Christmas in Italy. The 8th of December was La Immacolata Concezione” or the Immaculate Conception - an important religious event in the Catholic calendar which is celebrated throughout Italy with parades and feasts. In Rome floral wreathsare laid in a Papal ceremony at the “Piazza di Spagna” (the Spanish Steps) while in Palermo a statue of “a Marunnuzza” (the Madonna in the Sicilian dialect) is carried through the streets in an fabulously elaborate procession.
The 8th December is also a public holiday which typically marks the start of the festive season and is traditionally the day when Italian families put up their Christmas decorations.
