This year Sorrento will again have a long Christmas with lights, sounds, entertainment, events and exhibitions which will animate the town throughout December and early January, and tourists will be able to experience the full atmosphere of a traditional Sorrento Christmas as well as the local hospitality which puts guests at ease and makes them feel at home, making their holiday unforgettable. The Sorrento Foundation, chaired by ship-owner Gianluigi Aponte and managed by Franco Simioli, in collaboration with Sorrento Council, is putting on a rich programme of events, starting with the XXXII Professional Days of the Cinema from 30 November to 4 December, which will give a preview of films to be shown not only during the Christmas season but also for a good part of the year. The local cinemas along with Hilton Sorrento Palace’s Syrene Cinema have been the host venue to the most famous Italian actors and directors, reviving once again the glory of the fondly rememberedand unforgettable Sorrento Film Festival, which took placeuntil a few years ago. The Christmas tree in Piazzo Tasso will be put up and the lights switched on from 30 November, starting a long Christmas festival which will host a new event almost every day. From 3 to 6 December the ancient church of St Paul with its adjoining cloister will be the site of the “Divine Wine” exhibition, dedicated to wine and food, music and art. There will also be classical music events, with excellent performers such as “The Solisti Veneti,” the harp quartet “Melarpa Ensemble,” the “Enarmonia” String Quartet, and the New Scarlatti Orchestra for a Rotary charity evening at the Hilton Sorrento Palace. We are also pleased to mark the return on 30 December in via San Cesareo, of the Tombola Table, which will aim to emulate those of past times. On New Year’s Eve the end of the year will be marked in Piazza Tasso by the “ciuccio di fuoco,” which is a cloth donkey full of fireworks, and the “New Year Song.” 2010 will be brought in with a firework spectacle at Marina Piccola. However, it is not only the centre of Sorrento that is involved in the Christmas celebrations but also the various hamlets: Santa Lucia with its patron saint’s festival, Priora with its Christmas market from 5 to 8 December, and the one in Piazza Veniero from 8 to 24 December. Christmas in Sorrento doesn’t mean just artistic events, as local tradition as always will play a vital role. A timeless symbol of Christmas is the Presepe nativity scene. Presepi of more or less artistic complexity can be found in all the churches involved in the Christmas Processions of the Child Jesus. These processions, accompanied by worshippers, firecrackers and the sound of shawm players and pipers, along with Midnight Mass in the Cathedral, remind us that Christmas is above all a festival of solidarity and family gatherings. The home becomes the focal point for affectionate family reunions, the pleasure of being together around the Presepe or the Christmas Tree. A family pastime typical of the Christmas period is ‘tombola’, or just a fun get-together around a table filled with Christmas cakes and pastries. We can’t forget that Christmas is a round-the-table event to savour the many traditional dishes, especially the local confectionery: roccocò, sapienza, mustaccioli, marzipan, divino amore, zeppole and of course the struffoli dripping with honey that make any attempt at a diet impossible. And of course the nuts and dried fruits: Sorrento walnuts, hazelnuts, dried figs, candied fruit and follarielli. Around this period, the palate has free rein to endless temptations! But this isn’t all there is to the spirit of Christmas. In fact, in some areas of our peninsula, popular traditions are relived, such as the Live Presepe, and shows like the “Cantata dei Pastori” remembering the birth of Christ with a series of comic and bizarre figures such as Razzullo, Sarchiapone or the devils who, completely in vain, try to put a damper on the happy event. We may only have managed to give a vague, incomplete idea of Christmas in Sorrento: these few lines alone leave much still to be told. However, Christmas is a period for inner experience, where our childlike spirit resurfaces to remember the happy, carefree times, and we can forget, even if only for a few days, those shadowy encumbrances of the present. Naturally, Christmas intends that we live in peace and harmony, closing the door on the problems of the world to be close to our loved ones, a sign of human solidarity in a spirit of true companionship.