Hello to all you happy travelers!!! My wife and I are planning a trip to Europe and I have a few reservations. Where would be a good place to spend Christmas in Italy? My other worry is driving from Germany to Italy in the wintertime. Can anyone give me a few helpful suggestions? we are planning on being in Italy somewhere between Dec 21 and Dec 27th.

Late November till xmas, they have a number of christmas markets in Cologne which are worth visiting if you are in the area. People travel from all over Europe to visit them.

To get from Germany to Italy that time of year is a nightmare if they have a lot of snow. You could get snowed in on a motorway somewhere, particularly entering into Italy.I would fly if I were you.

http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/rome/winter.html


http://www.initaly.com/regions/xmas/markets.htm


http://www.initaly.com/regions/xmas/xmas.htm

Hi Natanno - For atmosphere I think it'd be hard to beat Christmas in one of the Dolomite ski resorts.

My choice would be Ortisei.

http://www.valgardena.it/

Steve

If you are expecting are wanting a tremendous amount of Christmas atmosphere then Italy would not be it. Unlike it's northern neighbors, Italy is very subdued to Christmas atmosphere and festivities, especially coming from Germany. If your not concerned about a overly festive Christmas activities, or it's not a ineterest, then many places in Italy would be fine.
If you are seeking Christmas season experiences then there are many to be found in Italy , you just have to seek those out more then you would up north.

The Dolomite area, as suggested, is a good area if you are still interested in being in snow country. Perform searchs on the town of Bolzano to see if that interest you.

In many small towns through out Italy, live nativity enactments are staged daily. In some towns the whole town gets involved. There's a lot of Christmas concerts at this time. You would need to research the town your in to see what's scheduled , many being held at churches.

Rome would be a good, Christmas choice. Besides the obvious activities at the Vatican, if you enoy viewing the nativity, creche, manager scenes, you could visit church after church to see the scenes. Plenty of concerts in Rome at this time also.

Thank you all for your input and your time to make the suggestions. I will let you all know how it goes!

Buy meats, bread, olives and cheeses and wine(wine opener) the day before because everything is pretty much closed. Even restaurants. Find out what concerts or plays are going on and book early. Many churches have small concerts for free or very cheaply. Christmas will be very quiet so just plan on walking around and enjoying the wonderful foods you bought the day before at a park or soemthing similar.