Experience Tuscany

Being in Tuscany during the Christmas holidays offers new surprises everyday. Each year new events and happenings enrich the already furbished line of traditional appointments that make of the Tuscan region the perfect place to spend your winter vacation.
This year there are some special places to be, especially towards the end of the year. Towns with bonfires, town celebrations, perfect to combine the modern enjoyments with the traditions of Tuscany.
If you are going to be around Santa Fiora on the Amiata Mountain, the advice is to stick in town during the nights of the 30th and the 31st. Santa Fiora is indeed the only town in Tuscany that celebrates the new year two days in a row. The first day, the 30th, relieves ancestral fire rituals bound to the changing of seasons and other charismatic properties that in the past have been attributed to fire. On this night huge pyramids of chestnut wood are piled up in Piazza Garibaldi in town and let to burn all night long. While the fires warm up the air and donate quite an impressive ambient to the whole town, stands with typical food, like roasted meat and wines, will be open. Dances and music will be possible until 3 am, thanks to the local city band. Hurry to rest a few hours, because you will have to be ready for the second New Year’s Eve celebration, that of the 31st, with fireworks and dances.
Still on Mount Amiata Christmas Eve in Abbadia San Salvatore renews the magic of the ancient traditions when the town was ruled by the Abbott. From 6 pm the huge wood pyramids are lit and burn waiting for the midnight Mass, just like it used to happen when the whole town of Abbadia gathered in the streets to pay the legions to the Abbott. The fires would warm them up and renew the relationships among villagers. Just like in the past, the people of Abbadia, and tourists as well, enjoy the fascinating spectacle that the fires offer, sing pastoral chants bound to the mountain tradition, and exchange cordial chats. From 9 pm the backpipers start playing Christmas songs, while the living Nativity scene and shepherds create a magic atmosphere. There are tens of wooden pyramids all over the town, and they burn until dawn. Of course all this time in the streets of Abbadia will be accompanied by roasted meats, wines and other local delicacies.

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