Exhibition: 100 Nativities
Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo, Sale del Bramante, Piazza del Popolo, 1.
Information: 0685357191.
Opening hours: every day, including holidays, 9.30 a.m.– 8 p.m.
Admission: €7, reduced: €5.50.
Until 6 January
The exhibition contains 169 nativity scenes, all of them new, from different regions of Italy and countries around the world. They represent the artistic and cultural traditions of their place of origin, but are also fruit of the inventiveness, the imagination and the fantasy of artists, crafts people, school children and DIY enthusiasts. They mingle art and imagination. There are nativity scenes made using various techniques and materials and in styles that include artistic, classical 17th and 18th century Neapolitan, 18th and 19th century Liguria, 19th century Roman and of many other Italian regions. There are foreign nativities from Christian countries, even where this is not the predominant culture, and imaginary nativities, where the creators have transformed ordinary everyday objects and materials into an original representation of the sacred.
Christmas Concert
Auditorium della Conciliazione. Via della Conciliazione, 4.
Saturday, 15 December at 7.30 p.m.
This highly original event, which has been held every year for the past 20 years, is in fact a musical ‘marathon’ in which artists of every nation, religion and culture take part, performing their version of Christmas. A wide variety of musical genres are represented, from opera to rock and roll via folk music, gospel, classical music, ethnic music and every other form of musical expression.
Market Stalls in Piazza Navona
Until 6 January
One of the most characteristic Christmas events is the market in Piazza Navona. Stalls overloaded with sweets and toys occupy the centre of the square, amidst a crowd of street artists and strolling families. Most of the stalls specialise in Christmas decorations, with plenty to choose from to add to your Christmas tree or Nativity scene. There are also numerous stalls selling sweets and candies, a paradise for children, and others that look like toy factories. Piazza Navona is well known as the place to go to do your shopping before the feast-day of Epiphany.
Rome Gospel Festival
Auditorium Parco della Musica. Viale Pietro de Coubertin, 30.
From 20 to 31 December
Rome’s Gospel Festival has become the largest of its kind in Europe and a venue for some of the best spirituals and gospel choirs from the United States. The programme aims to include a broad selection of styles and genres, all of which have in common the high quality of the music.
Here are some of the concerts
Sala Sinopoli
• Thursday, 20 at 9 p.m.: The Johnny Thompson Singers.
• Sunday, 23 at 9 p.m.: Harlem Gospel Choir
• Tuesday, 25 at 6 p.m.: Walt Whitman The Soul Children of Chicago.
• Wednesday, 26 at 9 p.m.: Craig Adams’ Gospel Night.
• Saturday, 29 at 9 p.m.: The Gospel Victory Singers.
• Sunday, 30 at 9 p.m.: Songs of Solomon Gospel Choir.
• Monday, 31 at 10 p.m.: Monica Lisa Stevenson Gospel Choir.