LIVE NATIVITY SCENE OF CIVITA DI BAGNOREGIO
26 and 30 December 2023
1,6 and 7 January 2024



Also this year in Civita di Bagnoregio organized by the Italian Red Cross - Bagnoregio and Lubriano Committee, the ancient rite of the birth of Jesus is renewed in an evocative place uncontaminated by modernity. The small village can only be reached via a pedestrian bridge which leaves every corner of the town intact. Its Porta Santa Maria entrance is a real space-time door that takes anyone who passes through it back hundreds of years. The oldest tradition of Christian Christmas marries admirably with the unique setting in the world of Civita di Bagnoregio: the fabric, fruit and spice market transports visitors to that village which over 2,000 years ago was the birthplace of Baby Jesus. At least ten commemorative paintings surround the cave where Jesus was born, at the beginning a small Arab souq projects visitors into the world of over two thousand years ago, a perfectly reproduced Roman castrum, a camp of Arab shepherds, vintage artisan workshops and the residences of the nobles of the time accompany visitors to the expertly set up and particularly evocative nativity scene. Fires and torches, when evening falls, fill the eyes with surprising lights and colors where every corner of the ancient village seems to transform and come to life. The smells of spices envelop visitors in a unique and extraordinary atmosphere, the air is contaminated with different, sometimes contrasting, sounds and noises as if to remind us that the greatest event in Christian history took place in a harsh and distant land. ​