I must confess: I have always fancied the living nativity scenes. My father initiated me to these representations when I was young, and, be it for the scenery or for the strange clothes when I first saw one of them, I was left speechless. Still today, Nativity scenes evoke in me the same feelings of that very first time.

Saving the wonder of that moment, I tried to write down a list of the most suggestive living nativity scenes in Emilia-Romagna that you can admire with your own eyes during winter holidays. If by chance I missed some of them, please let me know in the comments below: I’ll be more than happy to add them to the list!

I took for granted that everybody knows what a living nativity scene is, but, just in case you were wondering, here is a quick recap: it’s an ancient Christian tradition, whose first testimony dates back to St. Francis (1223), and consists in the representation of the birth of Jesus (and related events) with human actors.