photo courtesy megzimbeck.com
Typically in Italy, the Christmas decorations are put up on December 8, which is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The presepe, holiday lights, Babbo Natale's and Christmas trees get set up in homes, shops and town centers. At our house, even though we had every intention of getting the tree up on December 8, it just didn't happen. Today, thankfully, the tree is up. In celebration of that, today on the Countdown I'm blogging about l'Albero di Natale or the Christmas tree.
Every year in Venice, a large tree is set up in St. Mark's square, and lights are turned on the evening of December 8. Here's a photo of this year's tree.
St. Mark's is a magical place on a normal day. At Christmas time with thousands of twinkly lights lit not only on the tree but under the three colonnades that surround the square, it is particularly breathtaking.
I remember our first Christmas in Venice. We wondered what in the world people did for Christmas trees. We couldn't imagine where we could go to find a real tree, or better yet, carrying that tree back to an apartment in Venice. There certainly was no place to go cut down a tree. We ended up buying a fake tree in a box, then carted that big box home on a handcart on the vaporetto, up and over a few bridges and into the apartment. That was the first fake tree I'd ever had in my life. I wasn't happy, but it was the most expedient solution.
You CAN get a real tree in Venice! They aren't large, but they are real. Many come with the roots in pots even. Just before December 8, you'll see a vendor set up shop near Ca D'Oro on the Strada Nuova in Cannaregio. There's another vendor near the mercatino on the Lido, which is in the photo below.
You can see how small most of these trees are. On the bright side- they are real trees!
I even saw trees in the grocery store, for 11.99 Euros each, and have seen people putting these into the grocery trolley and wheeling them home. It almost makes me want to buy one. Almost. Then I start thinking about all that hauling and change my mind. I also think about what I'd have to do when it was time to take the tree down and get it out of the apartment. I'm sticking with the large, fake tree. (see below!)
Buon Natale !
5 comments:
I'd not thought about how they dispose of them!
Love the advent calendar. It's my favorite so far!
Even though your tree is fake it is still lovely. I remember the picture I took of it in 2012. The only thing missing is the aroma of pine tar.
You're doing an excellent job in your countdown.
Baci e baci,
Michelle (just outside Seattle)
Who also has a fake tree but a real sprig of greens on my door.
Andrew- I have a local friend who tells me she has to cut off all the branches into little pieces and stuff them all in trash bags, then haul multiple trash bags out to the trash! Too much work for me!
Grazie, Michelle! I'm ok without the pine smell. I missed it at first, now I am just fine. Mike has been saying for the last few days that he wants a tiny tabletop size real tree he's seen at the tree stands. It just wouldn't be the same, for me.
Ciao!
We gave up real trees several years ago when our mail order tree (which was supposed to be cut just before shipping) kept arriving drier and drier. The final straw as when we got a new puppy and I read that if they drink water from the real tree they could get poisoned since the pine needles do something to the water. Our tree went up early in December this year and didn't come down until after Epiphany (I hate taking it down as there are over 150 ornaments to wrap up and store plus we were out of town in early January -- good excuse to leave the tree up a bit longer.
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