The Christmas season is over and everyone is no doubt
looking towards Spring, but I’ve chosen to recount the following because the
memories are fresh in my mind from our stay in Italy over the Christmas and New
Year period and I think there’s a good story to be told.
Despite the fact that Italy has begun to
become more obviously secular in character in recent decades, certain religious
Christian traditions and values continue to appear to figure strongly in the
hearts and minds of Italians of all ages. This is reflected in the almost
ubiquitous and popular Christmas nativity scenes seen in many Italian towns –
in churches, town centres, shops and home windows. Seeing a selection of them over
the last few weeks prompted me to recall the one I used to visit every year outside
Skipton Town Hall in Yorkshire back in the 50’s and 60’s, though I don’t know
whether they still have it there at Christmas now. In New York, at the
Metropolitan Museum, the Neapolitan Baroque Christmas crib scene, every year
displayed in front of a huge Christmas tree in the main foyer, provides pleasure
for thousands of visitors. I discovered that Naples in fact has a significant and special place in the history of Italian presepe building. There, in the 18th century, the presepe became a vehicle for presenting carved wooden and moulded terra cotta figures made by sculptors in dramatic ensemble, each representing a character from Napoli street life and who had little to do with the Christmas story.These were not made for church presepe but the homes of wealthy patrons. There is still a street in Naples today which has a many small craft based shops selling artisan nativity figures.
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| NEAPOLITAN BAROQUE NATIVITY METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART NEW YORK CITY |
In Italy, the PRESEPE or Christmas crib, thrives and I saw dozens of them during our three week stay, ranging from simple small scale models of the Bethlehem stable at one end of the spectrum to something altogether more spectacular at the at the opposite end of the scale. Though not specific to Italy, versions of presepe can be found at Christmas all over the Christian world; legend has it that the tradition was first established by St Francis of Assisi who created a nativity tableau at Christmas using live models in Grecio in 1223 after a visit to the Holy Land to see the birthplace of Jesus.
I first became aware of how absorbing these presepe could be when we visited Rome for the weekend just before Christmas 2013. In the afternoon of the first day I’d decided to make a visit to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo to see a famous pair of Caravaggio paintings in one of the church’s chapels. On entering the building through the front door, I was immediately taken with a large and incredibly detailed model nativity displayed in a side chapel just to the left, which attempted not only to reconstruct the usual scene of the stable with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus being visited by the shepherds, but the entire town of Bethlehem complete with street scenes, streams with flowing water and a mill with turning sails. Small model figures represented the usual characters and many more an entire community as well. A visit to the annual Christmas market in the Piazza Navone that evening confirmed that presepe building was a major preoccupation for many Italians. There were dozens of stalls selling everything needed for a perfect Bethlehem stable crib scene. Many of the alluring stalls were brightly lit and it was also possible to shop supermarket style by picking up a small basket in which to place all the selected items. I was intrigued by a mother and daughter admiring in the palm of a hand a selection of tiny mice they’d chosen, all a fraction of the size of a finger nail, to use in their crib scene at home. Though some stalls had Italian artisan made figures of quality, no matter that most of the items for sale were possibly made from moulded plastic and probably imported from China – everything looked colourful and attractive and the crowds loved it.
I first became aware of how absorbing these presepe could be when we visited Rome for the weekend just before Christmas 2013. In the afternoon of the first day I’d decided to make a visit to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo to see a famous pair of Caravaggio paintings in one of the church’s chapels. On entering the building through the front door, I was immediately taken with a large and incredibly detailed model nativity displayed in a side chapel just to the left, which attempted not only to reconstruct the usual scene of the stable with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus being visited by the shepherds, but the entire town of Bethlehem complete with street scenes, streams with flowing water and a mill with turning sails. Small model figures represented the usual characters and many more an entire community as well. A visit to the annual Christmas market in the Piazza Navone that evening confirmed that presepe building was a major preoccupation for many Italians. There were dozens of stalls selling everything needed for a perfect Bethlehem stable crib scene. Many of the alluring stalls were brightly lit and it was also possible to shop supermarket style by picking up a small basket in which to place all the selected items. I was intrigued by a mother and daughter admiring in the palm of a hand a selection of tiny mice they’d chosen, all a fraction of the size of a finger nail, to use in their crib scene at home. Though some stalls had Italian artisan made figures of quality, no matter that most of the items for sale were possibly made from moulded plastic and probably imported from China – everything looked colourful and attractive and the crowds loved it.
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| CHRISTMAS MARKET STALL - PIAZZA NAVONE - ROME |
Back home in Citta della Pieve we’d seen an
advertisement for the town’s PRESEPE MONUMENTALE which was to be opened to the
public every day between Christmas Day and January 6th and decided a
visit to see it was a must. Well – as far as crib scenes go – this one was the
best yet, huge in scale and requiring a modest entrance charge to see it. Every
year since 1967 this little Umbrian town has mounted this amazing exhibit in
the undercroft of the historic Palazzo Corgna, making use of the cave-like
atmosphere to create a splendid rendering of the Christmas story, all set
against the background of the medieval town of Citta itself. Following a route past various tableaux, beginning with the Annuciation and at one stage
involving a complete miniature reconstruction of the historic ‘centro
historico’ of Citta della Pieve, the climax was the large room containing the
huge model of the Citta based Bethlehem hillside, the stable scene set under a
deep blue sky crafted from dark blue silk fabric illuminated with tiny star-like
lights.
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| PRESEPE MONUMENTALE - CITTA DELLA PIEVE |
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| CHRISTMAS CRIB - PRESEPE MONUMENTALE CITTA DELLA PIEVE |
The idea of localising the Christmas story within an Italian
countryside setting is not of course unique to Citta della Pieve and
Renaissance painters were known for often setting episodes from the Christmas
story in a local landscape. One of the best examples of this practice can be
found here in Citta and I couldn’t resist including the large and impressive
frescoed 'Adoration of the Magi' painted by Pietro Vanucci in 1504 which can be
viewed at any time of year in the oratory of Santa Maria dei Bianchi, right in
the centre of town. Vanucci, better known as Perugino, was born in Citta della
Pieve and I’ll be telling you a lot more about him in a later posting. In this late
work he places the stable setting firmly in the local Umbrian landscape and
Lake Trasimeno can clearly be seen in the background. Without a doubt this would
have helped make the Christmas story feel familiar and real to all those who
viewed it. To me it seems there’s a direct bridge between this
local town treasure dating from the early 16th century and the
delightful model crib scene set in the countryside outside Citta in the cellar
of the Palazzo Corgna. Whilst a comparison is unfair and the former was
without doubt a huge status symbol for the commissioners of the work, it struck
me that the idea of communicating the essence of the Christmas story in an
arresting, direct and pleasing to look at visual way is as alive and important
now as it was then. There was something just a little bit reassuring about this
thought in an age where modern technology seems to be changing the world on a
daily basis. We were captivated by the entire installation and thought we’d reached the
zenith of Umbrian presepe discoveries, but this was to prove not to be the
case.
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| PERUGINO - ADORATION OF THE MAGI - 1504 ORATORY OF SANTA MARIA DEI BIANCHI CITTA DELLA PIEVE |
A few miles up the road from Citta, in the larger town
of Castiglione del Lago, the older part of the town can be found on a
promontory that juts out into Lake Trasimeno – Italy’s fourth largest lake. The
headland is occupied by a hugely impressive medieval stone fortress complete
with intact walls and crenelated towers.
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| MEDIEVAL FORTRESS CASTIGLIONE DEL LAGO |
One sunny afternoon during the
Christmas period we decided to visit it thinking we’d be able to enjoy the fine
views over the lake. Within the walls of the castle, however, we were to
discover yet another civically organised presepe - one which was the most
eccentric of those viewed to date. After descending a stone staircase from one
of the towers we walked into the large, grassy enclosed central part of the
castle and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by life size mannequins in
historical costume, with their backs to us and all appearing to be looking
towards an outbuilding on the far side of the courtyard some distance away. We
were of course amongst the scene from the Christmas story where the local
shepherds and their flocks visit the manger to see the new born baby Jesus.
Further investigation revealed an enclosure containing life size model sheep
and then there was the delightful stable scene itself. Of all the nativity
scenes we’d visited, this was the one that had a slightly eerie feel to it, but on
reflection it revealed yet another dimension to the energies and creativity
used to produce something distinctive and different from the usual crib scenes.
They certainly succeeded in doing that!
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| A SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP LOOK TOWARDS THE BETHLEHEM STABLE FORTRESS - CASTIGLIONE DEL LAGO |
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| MY PARTNER JON WITH A COUPLE OF RATHER STIFF LOOKING SHEPHERDS FORTRESS, CASTIGLIONE DEL LAGO |
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| BETHLEHEM STABLE - FORTRESS, CASTIGLIONE DEL LAGO
I finish this posting with a brief description of our Epiphany 6th January visit to the medieval hilltop village of Monteleone d’Orvieto about five miles south of Citta della Pieve to see a special presepe which we’d heard about from friends Michael and Francesca, the kindly couple who keep an eye on our apartment when we are in the UK. This small village, founded in the 11th century as an Orvieto outpost, was built on top of a long hillside spur overlooking the Chiana valley and many of the centuries old brick built buildings found along the three parallel streets which run along the spur still survive and have been beautifully restored. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric place and perfect for the staging of a “living” presepe which the village has held every year since the beginning of the 1980’s.
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| THE UMBRIAN HILL TOP TOWN OF MONTELEONE d'ORVIETO |
At five o’clock
we paid our modest three euro entrance fee and set off down the first of the three
aforementioned streets along with a crowd of locals and people from further
afield. We’d hardly got fifty yards before a hand bell started ringing behind
us and looking back we saw a man dressed in white cotton robes limping along with a
stick and ringing his bell to announce he was ‘unclean’! This was just the
beginning of what was to prove a surreal experience. As we progressed further along
the street we soon encountered the smells and sights of a working blacksmith’s
workshop complete with burning furnace and a man forging a piece of iron on a
huge anvil. This led on to pottery workshops, barrel coopering, grain
threshing and weaving workshops and even
lamp making – all artisan activities employing fully costumed villagers.
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| BLACKSMITH'S WORKSHOP LIVE NATIVITY - MONTELEONE d'ORVIETO |
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| A COUPLE OF RATHER CAMP LOOKING ROMAN SOLDIERS LIVE NATIVITY - MONTELEONE d'ORVIETO |
Braziers and torches burned and the smell of spices filled the air as the
twilight came down on the village and soon we were in the main square to be
confronted by a pair of Roman soldiers escorting a noisy prisoner to a
makeshift gaol. A walk back up the central street led us past more workshops
until we reached another square set up with stalls with costumed sellers loudly plying their wares – “Bruschetta” a young voice kept calling out. Enticed
by the delicous aroma we purchased pieces of unleavened bread sweetened with sugar and happily munched our way through them as we watched
these costumed figures enthusiastically sell their goods.
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| SHEEP AT THE BETHLEHEM STABLE LIVE NATIVITY - MONTELEONE d'ORVIETO |
At seven o’clock we
set off through the huge medieval gateway to view the manger scene and I must
admit to finding it an intriguing experience to discover a seated handsome young
village couple either side of an empty crib, Mary holding a swaddled young baby
in white linen (nobody seemed to mind it
had a modern comforter in its mouth) – all framed against a straw strewn stable
containing a real donkey and outside some hay munching sheep. Not long afterwards the sound of the clopping
of hooves came from the arch announcing the arrival of the three kings, each walking next to a large chestnut horse and bearing a traditional caskets
containing either gold, frankincense or myrhh.
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| JOSEPH, MARY & BABY JESUS LIVE NATIVITY - MONTELEONE d'ORVIETO |
As we celebrated epiphany with the local community we did feel moved
by what was taking place and this also seemed to be true for the rest of the respectful crowd. Fleetingly the thought came that this could never take place in Britain where health and safety
regulations would have killed it off before it even got past the planning stage and
not to mention the further notion that we couldn’t imagine most British young
people donning these outfits and enthusiastically adopting the roles being played out here. It was a pleasure to see what seemed to be the entire village community and all its generations, young, adult and elderly taking part in this annual event - one which was not being put on for non-Italian tourists - for we seemed to be the only foreigners there. Yes, it’s all completely bogus,
yes it was amusing to see one or two artisans answering their mobile phones or
the odd shepherd sending a text, but none of this detracted from what was
essentially a great community event - one rooted in tradition and still proclaiming a two thousand year old Christian message. We went
home feeling we’d experienced something unique!
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| THE ARRIVAL OF THE THREE KINGS ON HORSEBACK LIVE NATIVITY - MONTELEONE d'ORVIETO |
The Presepe Monumentale at the Palazza Corgna in Citte
della Pieve takes place every Christmas from December 25th to
January 6th.
The Monteleone d’Orvieto ‘live’ nativity takes place
every year in the late evening of the 24th December and again at 5pm
on December 26th and the following January 6th.
THIS POSTING IS PART OF AN ON-GOING NARRATIVE SO PLEASE DO CONSIDER STARTING IT FROM THE BEGINNING WITH ITEM 1. THANKS - IAN
THIS POSTING IS PART OF AN ON-GOING NARRATIVE SO PLEASE DO CONSIDER STARTING IT FROM THE BEGINNING WITH ITEM 1. THANKS - IAN
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