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Christmas Market at Piazza Navona
Hi all,
I'll be in Rome on the 28th December for 8 nights. Ive read that the Christmas Market at Piazza Navona runs until the Epiphany, is this correct? Can anyone in the know tell me what the market is like after Christmas, whether it is open every day, and when it would be open? It will be a bonus to see the markets up even though we miss Christmas itself. Thanks |
I think it is open, but you wouldn’t be missing much. My information is a few years out of date, and I wasn’t there before Christmas, but what was there after Christmas wasn’t very impressive. I didn’t get the impression that Italy does Christmas markets very well. Although most of the interesting ones seem to happen in early December, when I wasn’t there. more worth your time—go look at the various nativity scenes. Those are gorgeous. |
My info is also from some time ago, but at that time at least, the market was a lot like a carnival, including games where you can win stuffed animals. Food was also available, I particularly remember chocolate with hazelnuts. There was a wide range of stuff for sale, from inexpensive stuff to beautiful and expensive Amber jewelry. One really nice thing was the nativity characters that Naples is famous for. I bought several to go with a set I had. There were many different ones that you wouldn't find in the US, because the Italian nativity scenes show the whole village with people going about their regular business or chores.
I agree with checking out the nativity scenes in the churches, many only displayed at Christmas. There was also a big exhibit at the Piazza di Popolo with a couple hundred presepi from all over the world. |
The market is open thru epiphany and the same as before christmas - more than half the stands in the hands of a local mafia family and full of cheep stuff and bad food. i find the presepi more “christmas-y”: https://www.wantedinrome.com/whatson...s-in-rome.html |
Rome’s Christmas Markets, including Piazza Navona, are not great in comparison to other European cities. Don’t expect much. here is a list That I found of Christmas markets in Rome: https://www.romeing.it/christmas-markets-in-rome/ |
Every year there is an exhibit of "100 Presepi" in Rome. It used to be in Piazza del Popolo, but it's been moved to Via dell'Ospedale, near the Vatican, who have taken over the exhibit from its previous owners. We saw it two years ago, and really enjoyed it. This is one of the few things open on Christmas Day and New Years Day.
http://www.presepi.it/index.php?lang=en It's kind of funny that they've translated "presepio" as "crib". |
The market is billed as Rome's largest, but we found that we walked around it in 15 minutes and a lot of the stuff on sale was cheap tat. Vinoroma maybe has it right above and we were disappointed to have taken the time out of our break in Rome for not a lot.
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I visited the Piazza Navona Christmas market between Jan 1 and 6 in 2019. There were only a couple of stalls that had very nice things, but I went at night and really enjoyed it. Everything was bright and festive and I sat at one of the cafes on the Piazza. |
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