Christmas in Italy: Traditions, Dates and Where to Go in 2026

Christmas in Italy lasts a month: it starts on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and ends on January 6, Epiphany. Go to Rome for the Pope’s Christmas Mass, Naples for the nativity workshops, Alto Adige for the Christmas markets, and plan around December 25 and January 1, when most museums close.

On this page · 10 sections

1. When Christmas starts and ends in Italy
2. Italian Christmas traditions
3. La Vigilia and Christmas lunch
4. Midnight Mass and the papal blessing in Rome
5. Best places to spend Christmas in Italy
6. Christmas in Le Marche
7. Christmas markets worth the trip
8. New Year’s Eve and Epiphany
9. How to plan Christmas week in Italy
10. Frequently asked questions

I am Moreno Moretti. I was born in Le Marche, and since 2014 my team and I have planned private trips across Italy for travelers from the United States. Christmas is the time of year when Italy feels most Italian: the cities fill with lights and nativity scenes, families gather for long lunches, and the rhythm of the country changes. This guide covers the traditions, where to go, what is open on each holiday in 2026 and how to plan the week.

When Christmas starts and ends in Italy

The 2026 calendar, day by day.

The Italian Christmas season runs from December 8 to January 6, and five of those days are national holidays. Here is what happens on each key date in 2026, and what you can expect to find open.

Date	What happens	What to expect
Mon, Dec 7	Sant’Ambrogio, patron saint of Milan. La Scala opens its season with Verdi’s Otello. The giant tree on Monte Ingino above Gubbio is lit	City offices in Milan close. Accademia and Uffizi in Florence close every Monday
Tue, Dec 8	Immaculate Conception, national holiday. Families put up the tree and the presepe. In Florence the tree in Piazza del Duomo is traditionally lit	Vatican Museums closed
Dec 9 to 10	La Venuta: bonfires across Le Marche for Our Lady of Loreto	A local tradition, not a holiday
Sun, Dec 13	Santa Lucia brings gifts to children in Verona, Bergamo, Brescia and other northern towns	Not a holiday
Thu, Dec 24	La Vigilia: fish dinner and Christmas Eve Mass	A working day, but shops and markets close early and restaurants are full
Fri, Dec 25	Christmas Day, national holiday. The Pope’s Urbi et Orbi blessing at noon	Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Uffizi, Accademia and Pompeii closed. Christmas markets closed, except Trento in the evening
Sat, Dec 26	Santo Stefano, national holiday	Vatican Museums closed. Colosseum open. The Uffizi opened on December 26 last year
Sun, Dec 27	Last Sunday of the month	Vatican Museums open 9:00 to 14:00, with free entry
Thu, Dec 31	New Year’s Eve. Fireworks over the Bacino di San Marco in Venice	A working day. Restaurants serve set menus and need booking
Fri, Jan 1	New Year’s Day, national holiday	Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Uffizi and Accademia closed. Pompeii opened in the morning last year
Wed, Jan 6	Epiphany and La Befana, national holiday. The season ends	Vatican Museums closed. Most Christmas markets close tonight

State museums sometimes announce extra holiday openings in mid-December, so check the official sites a week before you travel. Venice is the exception that helps: the Doge’s Palace stayed open on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day in 2024.

Italian Christmas traditions

The nativity scene comes first.

The heart of an Italian Christmas is the presepe, the nativity scene, and it is older than the Christmas tree in Italy by several centuries. Saint Francis staged the first one in Greccio, in Lazio, at Christmas 1223. Today every church has one, and many towns build a living nativity with actors and animals.

In Naples, the artisans of Via San Gregorio Armeno carve and paint nativity figures all year, and the street is at its busiest in December. The figures go well beyond the manger: bakers, fishmongers, musicians, and every year a few famous people of the moment.

• Zampognari: pairs of bagpipe and pipe players from Ciociaria, in southern Lazio, who come down to Rome and other cities from early December to Epiphany. About 40 pairs still make the trip.
• Panettone and pandoro: panettone comes from Milan. Pandoro, the tall eight-pointed star cake, was patented in Verona in 1884.
• Santa Lucia: in Verona, Bergamo, Brescia and other towns of the north, children receive their gifts on the night of December 12, not on Christmas.
• La Befana: on the night of January 5, an old woman on a broom fills children’s stockings with sweets, or coal for the naughty ones. The town of Urbania, in Le Marche, calls itself the home of the Befana.

La Vigilia and Christmas lunch

What Italians eat, and when.

In Italy the big Christmas meal is lunch on December 25, while Christmas Eve is a lighter dinner of fish, without meat. From Rome to the south, the Vigilia dinner can run to several courses of seafood.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian-American name. In Italy you will hear about the Vigilia, not about seven fishes, and the number of dishes changes from family to family. Christmas lunch is regional: tortellini in broth in Emilia, baked pasta in the south, roasts, and then panettone or pandoro with sparkling wine.

For travelers, this matters for one reason: on December 24 and 25 Italians eat out too. If you want a table for the Vigilia dinner or Christmas lunch, book it weeks ahead, or ask your hotel to reserve its own holiday menu.

Midnight Mass and the papal blessing in Rome

Tickets are free, and they must be requested before December 8.

The Pope celebrates Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the central balcony at noon on Christmas Day. In 2025 the Christmas Eve Mass began at 10 p.m., not at midnight. The 2026 schedule is published by the Vatican in late autumn.

• Tickets: entirely free, requested from the Prefecture of the Papal Household by letter or fax. For the Christmas Eve, December 31 and January 1 liturgies, requests that arrive after December 8 are not considered.
• Without a ticket: giant screens in St. Peter’s Square show the Mass. For the noon blessing on December 25, you only need to be in the square early.
• In the square: a tall Christmas tree and a large nativity scene. In 2025 both were inaugurated on December 15.
• 100 Presepi: an exhibition of nativity scenes from around the world under Bernini’s colonnade, free and without booking. In 2025 it opened on December 8.

The Vatican Museums close on December 25 and 26. If they are part of your plan, see them on December 23 or 24 with timed entry, or with our private Vatican and Colosseum visit. More on the city is on our Rome page.

Best places to spend Christmas in Italy

Six choices, six different Christmases.

Rome is the classic choice for the religious celebrations, Naples for the nativity scenes, Alto Adige and the Dolomites for snow and markets, and Florence and Venice for a quieter city Christmas.

Where	Why go	Good to know
Rome	Christmas Mass and blessing at St. Peter’s, nativity scenes in every church, the Befana market in Piazza Navona	Colosseum closed on Dec 25 and Jan 1. Book Christmas lunch early
Naples	Via San Gregorio Armeno, the capital of the nativity scene, and the warmest city on this list, about 58°F by day	Combine it with Pompeii, closed on Dec 25
Florence	The tree in Piazza del Duomo, the Christmas market in Piazza Santa Croce until about December 21, the Uffizi without summer lines	Duomo monuments closed on Dec 25 and Jan 1
Venice	Quiet streets, the Doge’s Palace open on the holidays, fireworks over the lagoon on New Year’s Eve	High water is most frequent in November and December
Bolzano and Merano	The best-known Christmas markets in Italy, from November 26, 2026 to January 6, 2027	Markets closed on Dec 25. Below freezing at night
The Dolomites	Skiing and mountain villages. Dolomiti Superski opens on November 28, 2026, and Alta Badia and Val Gardena on December 4	A private driver is the easiest way to get there in winter

Milan is worth a stop on December 7, for Sant’Ambrogio, the opening night of La Scala and the Oh bej! Oh bej! fair at Piazza Castello. Matera, in Basilicata, stages a living nativity in the ancient Sassi on selected evenings. In 2025 it ran on nine evenings, with booking required.

Christmas in Le Marche

The Christmas I grew up with.

Le Marche, the region between the Apennines and the Adriatic where I was born, has a Christmas with very few tourists: candlelit villages, bonfires and the white truffle on the table. It is about two hours from Bologna and three from Rome.

• La Venuta, December 9 to 10: since 1617, bonfires are lit across Le Marche on this night to light the way of the Holy House of Loreto. December 10 is the feast of Our Lady of Loreto.
• Candele a Candelara: a small village near Pesaro that turns off its lights twice an evening, at 5:30 and 6:30, and is lit only by candles. It runs on weekends from late November to mid-December.
• The living nativity of Genga: held since 1981 in the Frasassi gorge, it ends in a sanctuary built inside a cave. It usually runs on December 26 and January 2, but it did not take place in 2025, so check before you plan around it.
• Urbania and the Befana: the town celebrates the Befana in early January.

Winter is also white truffle season in Le Marche. Our private truffle hunting day starts at €140 per person, and our guide to the white truffle of Acqualagna explains the season. For a family Christmas, a villa such as Villa Le Volte gives you space for everyone and a kitchen for the Christmas lunch. More on the region is on our Le Marche page.

Christmas markets worth the trip

The 2026 dates.

The best Christmas markets in Italy are in Alto Adige and Trentino, in the Alps, where the tradition comes from the German-speaking world. In the cities, the markets are smaller and the nativity scenes matter more.

Market	2026 dates	Notes
Bolzano, Piazza Walther	Nov 26, 2026 to Jan 6, 2027	Closed Dec 25. Short hours on Dec 24 and 31
Merano	Nov 26, 2026 to Jan 6, 2027	Closed Dec 25. Open until 3:30 p.m. on Dec 24 and 31
Bressanone, Piazza Duomo	Nov 26, 2026 to Jan 6, 2027	Closed Dec 25
Trento	Nov 20, 2026 to Jan 6, 2027	Open on Christmas Day from 4 to 8 p.m.
Verona	Late November to Dec 28 (2025 dates: Nov 21 to Dec 28)	Inspired by the Christkindlmarkt of Nuremberg
Milan, Oh bej! Oh bej!	From Dec 7, Sant’Ambrogio	Around Piazza Castello
Naples, Via San Gregorio Armeno	All year, busiest in December	Nativity workshops, not a seasonal market
Rome, Piazza Navona	December to Epiphany, 2026 dates not yet announced	The Befana arrives on Jan 6

New Year’s Eve and Epiphany

The season ends with the Befana.

New Year’s Eve in Italy is a long dinner and fireworks at midnight, and New Year’s Day is quiet, with most museums closed. In Venice the fireworks are over the Bacino di San Marco and are best seen from near the Arsenale, not from St. Mark’s Square. In Rome, the Pope celebrates Vespers and the Te Deum in St. Peter’s on the afternoon of December 31.

Restaurants serve set menus on December 31, often at a fixed price, and the good ones fill early. Lentils at midnight are a tradition: they are said to bring money in the new year. The season closes on January 6 with the Befana, with stockings for children and the last day of most Christmas markets.

How to plan Christmas week in Italy

Reservations, closures and a sample plan.

The two questions travelers ask most on the forums are what will be open on December 25 and 26, and how to get a table for Christmas Eve and Christmas lunch. Both have a simple answer: plan the museums before the holidays, and book every holiday meal in advance.

Day	Rome at Christmas: a sample plan
Wed, Dec 23	Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with timed entry, the nativity scenes under Bernini’s colonnade
Thu, Dec 24	Colosseum and Roman Forum in the morning, an afternoon of nativity scenes in the churches, the Vigilia dinner, Mass at 10 p.m.
Fri, Dec 25	The Urbi et Orbi blessing in St. Peter’s Square at noon, Christmas lunch booked in advance, a walk through the empty center
Sat, Dec 26	Colosseum open, Vatican closed. A good day to take the train to Florence or Naples

On the holidays, a private guide and a driver make the difference. Many sites are closed, but a guide can take you through the churches, the nativity scenes and the neighborhoods, and a driver solves the question of taxis on Christmas Day. If you prefer to start from a plan, our bespoke Italy tours are designed around your dates, and our guide to how much a trip to Italy costs has the prices.

Frequently asked questions

What travelers ask us about Christmas in Italy.

Christmas in Italy rewards a little planning: book the Mass and the holiday meals early, see the museums before December 25, and leave the holidays for churches, nativity scenes and long lunches. Send me your dates, and a travel designer on my team will build the week around them.

Sources: Vatican (2025 Christmas liturgies and Mass tickets), Vatican Museums, Parco archeologico del Colosseo, Uffizi Galleries, Galleria dell’Accademia, Pompeii archaeological park (Italian Ministry of Culture), Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Teatro alla Scala (2026-27 season), Südtirol and Alto Adige tourism (markets), Visit Trento, Venezia Unica (New Year’s Eve), Comune di Venezia (high water), Italian Chamber of Deputies (public holidays), Italia.it (traditions, Greccio, Gubbio, Loreto), Avvenire (zampognari), NPR and Salon (Feast of the Seven Fishes), Dolomiti.it (ski season), Il Resto del Carlino (Candelara, Genga).