An Italian Christmas (from an American)
Italians are famous for “la dolce vita” (the sweet life) and take their time off seriously. Our Italian winery partners cut off orders sometimes a week before the Christmas holiday and won’t reopen until the 7th of January. Imagine the cigarette smoke, men in uncomfortably tight jeans, and brightly colored puffy down jackets at the crazy Kris Kringle markets!
Back in the states we’re used to a different pace, not right or wrong, and I typically find myself “grinding” away until the 23rd when I’ll start to slow down until after the 26th and then planning continues for 2019 and tax prep starts. Not nearly as romantic as my Italian friends…
A couple of years back we spent Christmas with my wife’s family back in Italy. Angela was raised in a small town called Castelfranco Veneto, where her mother, father and sister still reside. I was excited to celebrate the holidays in Italy, having really only spent time in vineyards, cellars, highways and restaurants when traveling for Volio. Angela was 6 months pregnant, so our pace was leisurely for the two week holiday.
Christmas Mass in Italy
Christmas Mass was a sight to see… it was as if they’d moved the local bar inside the church. Everyone from town was there packing the place literally out the front door. As much as we Americans think Italians are pious, they’re really a very secular crowd. Most don’t attend church, save Christmas and Easter, and really only find religion when they’re sick or need something to happen. Mass was what you’d expect…puffy jackets on, cigarettes in hand, talking, laughing and the smell of something stronger than communal wine on everyone’s breath as Mass started… St. Peter would have been proud.
Unable to hear, see, sit or participate in the Mass (mostly because the singing disrupted the conversations of those next to us), we decided to leave mass about 45 minutes early. It’s a 1 hour ceremony. We headed to the bar 5 steps from the church, hammered back an Aperol Spritz and headed home for some Panettone (a traditional cake eaten daily around the Christmas holiday).
We still talk about that trip each year. We reminisce about the Italian traditions around the holidays… fish on Christmas day, lentils and cotechino (basically a deliciously half raw pork sausage) for New Years, and lots of coffee, wine and Panettone.
Back Home
As kids back in Indiana we’d always open presents and then break for my mom’s famous breakfast casseroles and coffee cakes before attacking stockings. Spiral ham or tenderloin for dinner and we’d clear out the living room for dancing with our neighbors and great family friends that night.
We try to bring these traditions together with our family and friends whenever we can now that our home is in Colorado. Now with our own kids, 5 and 3 years old, we’re starting our own “Ital-American” traditions that we hope will stick.
In the end, all we need are good friends, family, great food, delicious wine… and a little time to reflect on the year gone by.
— Charles Lazzara
