Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The mayors: "Our two cities united in the sign of the most beautiful and historic tradition of Christmas"

Milan 6 December 2019 – The tradition of the eighteenth-century Neapolitan nativity scene enters, with all its beauty, the courtyard of honor of Palazzo Marino, to give the Milanese and tourists the warmth of a Christmas with an ancient flavour. Around ninety figurines and hundreds of small objects artfully arranged which reproduce scenes of life in alleys and stairways populated by colorful humanity, the setting and prelude to a splendid nativity scene.

Today the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala and the Mayor of Naples Luigi de Magistris turned on the lights of the wonderful representation which will be visible in the "house of the Milanese" for the entire Christmas period. The nativity scene was created by the Italian Association Amici del nativity scene in collaboration with the Municipality of Naples.

“Pure beauty. The nativity scene that the city of Naples donated to Milan for the Christmas period – said Mayor Giuseppe Sala – is truly surprising for its richness of characters and meticulous detail. It's really impossible not to stop and admire it beyond the first glance. I thank the friends of the Association and all the Neapolitans for this tribute which will allow us to savor, in an authentic way, their most well-known and familiar tradition of Christmas".

“Being together here with our nativity scene - declared Mayor de Magistris - is a strong message of friendship with Milan and to build together, Naples and Milan, Beppe and I, a path of brotherhood between different peoples”.

The nativity scene was personally set up by the artists, who created all the figurines one by one. It is made of wood, cork and stucco and depicts the three typical scenes of the Neapolitan nativity scene: the nativity, the announcement to the shepherds and the tavern. These are unique pieces with bodies in wire and tow, heads, hands and feet in hand-painted terracotta or wood, glass eyes, with clothes in fine fabrics, hand-embroidered. The scenes are completed by polychrome terracotta animals, small items in wood, metal, porcelain, hand-painted majolica, baskets with waxes and musical instruments typical of the time.

THEItalian Association of Friends of the Nativity Scene, Naples branch, which created the nativity scene, is a cultural body of regional and municipal interest and is part of the Universalis Foederatio Presepistica, founded in Barcelona in 1952. It brings together nativity scene enthusiasts from all the participating countries. The Italian national headquarters was founded in Rome in 1953. The Naples office is one of the most prestigious associates. The Association was founded with the aim of keeping the tradition of the nativity scene alive by promoting its conservation and protection and helping to spread it, raising its qualitative aspect. It also deals with studying and highlighting its historical, religious, artistic, technical, cultural and ethnographic aspects.