What to see and do in Calabria in December

Have you chosen to spend your holidays in Calabria in December?

A time of the year full of Christmas events and traditions awaits you: from Christmas markets to living cribs, including a taste of typical Christmas sweets and the joy of Christmas events and traditions in Calabria.

Let's discover together what to see and do in Calabria in December and during the Christmas period. 

Visiting Christmas Markets

Let's start with the Christmas markets and the magic that hangs in the air among the towns and cities of Calabria in December, when, starting in the Advent period, the squares are filled with stalls and typical stands.

Fragrances, colourful lights, decorations, typical specialities such as the ever-present zeppole (sweet and savoury) and traditional Christmas music enliven Calabria's historic centres from the beginning of December, a real feast for adults and children alike!

Each province, in Calabria in December, offers its own Christmas markets: each one displays the best of local products and typical handicrafts, involving young and old in a magical atmosphere that intoxicates the senses and stimulates the imagination in finding the right gift.

For those in search of Christmas shopping, we suggest strolling along the splendid city streets which, in Calabria in December, are already festively decorated: there is something for everyone, from Corso Mazzini in Cosenza to Corso Garibaldi in Reggio Calabria, passing through the main streets of Catanzaro, Lamezia Terme, Crotone and Vibo Valentia.

Attending Christmas traditions in Calabria

In December, Calabria brings everyone back to childhood, drawing on its Christmas and family traditions.

Among the Calabrian Christmas traditions still in use is the heartfelt one of the fòcare, the Santa Lucia, Immaculate Conception and Christmas bonfires widespread in many cities and towns: that is, the custom of lighting large pyres of fire in front of the town's Mother Church and letting it burn until dawn as a sign of purification and rebirth.

Other traditions not to be missed in Calabria in December are those of the strìna (strenna) and the novena.

The Christmas strìna in Calabria consists of so-called ‘air songs’, sung through the streets of the villages in the morning and evening, accompanied by the ‘ammàccasàli’ (salt pestles) and traditional folk instruments such as the chitarra battente, tambourine, accordion and accordion.

Calabrian pipers, the true guardians of tradition, are instead entrusted with the task of playing the novena house by house, accompanied by the sound of traditional pipìte (flutes) during the nine days leading up to Christmas.

Finally, among the things to do in December in Calabria, the tour of the living cribs.

Among the most famous living nativity scenes in Calabria are those of Panettieri, in the province of Cosenza, and Gasperina, in the province of Catanzaro.

Lovers of traditional Calabrian nativity scenes can visit some of the most beautiful installations, such as the Nativity Museum in Reggio Calabria and the Mechanical Museum of Moving Shepherds in Tropea (VV).

Tasting Calabrian Christmas dishes and sweets

Calabria in December is a riot of typical dishes and sweets.

There are many typical Calabrian Christmas sweets: from stuffed and chocolate-covered figs to Nougat of Bagnara PDO, via turdìlli, mostacciòli and susumèlle.

At the centre of each preparation are the typical Mediterranean ingredients: dried fruit (Fico Dottato di Cosenza PDO), cloves, sultanas, honey and cooked wine, with ample room for the aromatic notes of cinnamon and star anise. 

These ingredients, in dozens of different variations, are the basis of the traditional Christmas pitte, the shortcrust or puff pastry cakes that, depending on their place of origin, are called ‘nchiùsa or ’mpigliàta.

The fried cakes compete with traditional biscuits, candied fruit (Cedar of Santa Maria del Cedro PDO) and icing.