Do you know what the Christmas markets in Rome and Natale di Roma have in common? They are now both to be found in our events calendar here in the Rome Guide.
Yes, it was finally about time for us to update our Rome Guide again, meaning that you can once again find information about upcoming events in Rome.
Of course, Rome doesn’t have as popular and famous Christmas markets as many other cities in Europe. But, that doesn’t mean that Rome is boring and there isn’t anything to do in Rome before Christmas.
Would you like to find out more about the Christmas markets in Rome? Click the link for more information!
Do not forget that you can take a look at the events calendar yourself to see what’s going on in Rome. Maybe you are in luck and there will be some great events taking place while you are in town.
The Christmas tree located at Piazza Venezia in Rome has turned into one of the most famous Christmas trees in the world since 2017. That is when a tree that cost 45,000 Euro looked like a bald person (Spelacchio) with some silver decorations on it. Luckily for Rome, the tree became a bigger success in 2018, and now we are already looking forward to seeing the Christmas tree in 2019.
But, when will the Christmas tree be raised on Piazza Venezia in Rome in 2019? The tree is sponsored by Netflix, and it contains more than 600 spheres, and an amazing number of 60,000 LED lights to make it look beautiful in the evenings.
When will the lights be turned on at the Piazza Venezia Christmas tree in 2019?
The Christmas tree will be at the square from December 8th until January 6th. The lights will be turned on for the first time on December 8th just after it turns dark.
There will be lots of other Christmas trees located all around Rome, and the one in front of St. Peters Basilica is one of the most famous. There are also beautiful Christmas lights everywhere in the central area of Rome, so make sure to walk around to enjoy the beauty of the city in this period of the year.
Rome isn’t a city known for its amazing Christmas market at Piazza Navona anymore. If you want to know more about it, click the link. So, if you want to visit a traditional big and impressive Christmas market, you should probably visit a city like Prague or Vienna to enjoy the Christmas markets in those given cities. They are much bigger and more impressive than the Christmas markets in Rome. But, Rome is Rome, and it is a city worth visiting all year round, no matter if it has big Christmas markets or not!
Have you heard the word Spelacchio? Did it has to do with Christmas and Rome and a Christmas tree located at Piazza Venezia? Well, that might be right. But, what is really Spealacchio? Why has it got its very own Twitter account with more than 8000 followers?
So, the story behind Spelacchio is really the story behind the very special Christmas tree that came to Rome in 2017. The local government paid more than 55,000 USD for the tree. One would expect such an expensive Christmas tree to look nice, but instead, it looked terrible. People called it Spelacchio, an Italian word that means “balding” and “mangy“.
So, in the word balding we understand that it is losing its hair, or maybe its fur. The word mangy comes from the word mange, which according to dictionary.com has to do with “any of various skin diseases caused by parasitic mites, affecting animals and sometimes humans and characterized by loss of hair and scabby eruptions.”
As a result, we have a Christmas tree that has been compared to a man losing his hair, or to a person suffering from a skin disease making him lose his hair and get scabby eruptions. Can you imagine what the Christmas tree might have been like?
So, what did the Christmas tree actually look like?
The famous Spelacchio tree from 2017, looked something like this.
The Christmas tree at Piazza Venezia in Rome in 2017 (Spelacchio)
As you can see from the picture, this isn’t the nicest Christmas tree the world has ever seen. But, because of all the fuzz, it might actually be one of the world’s most famous Christmas trees at the moment.
The tree has gotten a lot of tweets about it, and many people say it looks like a tree your neighbor threw out a couple of weeks ago because it was so ugly. Well, most people tend to agree about it!
The local government couldn’t explain what had happened to the Christmas tree in 2017, but they said that they would investigate the case.
What happened to Spelacchio in 2018?
One would believe that they wouldn’t make a mistake in 2018 as well. But, that isn’t entirely true. In 2018, they managed to call the tree Spezzacchio, due to the tree being “broken” or “split.” This was due to a special technique they used to make the tree stand like they wanted to. But, in the end, the Christmas tree at Piazza Venezia looked normal in 2018, just like you can see at the image beneath.
The Piazza Venezia Christmas tree in 2018 – Source: Twitter
So, this is the background and the story behind the Spezzacchio and the Spelacchio in Rome.
We hope you have learned something reading this article. If you want to know more about Rome, about celebrating Christmas in Rome or maybe about the Christmas markets in Rome, look around here in our Rome Guide.
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Have a nice day and we wish you a pleasant stay in Rome!
