Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Tuscany

Dec. 21, 2012 - PRLog -- X-mas is without doubt the most popular festivity even in Tuscany, for centuries it has been an opportunity to share some time together, eat together and exchange presents; some people celebrate it on December 24th, others prefer December 25th, but almost everyone loves spending these days with family and dear ones and Christianity isn't actually the reason behind. But what happens if you're a tourist getting around Tuscany on these days? Contrary to what you may believe, on Christmas Day and Boxing Day restaurants are open, so if you reserve in advance you can have a great traditional lunch or dinner and later visit your favourite attractions (nativity scenes, markets, re-enactements etc.). Getting back to tradition, something you should definitely taste are the Christmas sweets, especially those made in Siena: ricciarelli, panforte and panpepato just to name a few.

New Year's Eve is the second most important Winter celebration after X-mas: every city has a Celebration Square where people can wait for the midnight to come listening to concerts, drinking sparkling wine and dancing; the new year is usually welcomed by some fireworks and on this particular occasion, most Italians still observe the following traditions:

- we wear red underwear for good luck
- we light fire crackers at midnight
- we usually organize a huge dinner and later we play games like bingo or trivial pursuit

If you are touring our region on New Year's Eve, you better check out the parties in castles: they can be really striking and sometimes they let you visit also the rooms. In any case, you can always book a tour in advance and visit http://www.blucarservice.it/volterra-san-gimignano-certal... for details.

Caterina Pomini