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CHRISTMAS

San Nicola and the Krampus: How parts of Italy celebrate December 6th

The Feast of St Nicholas and the Krampus are important festive traditions in some European countries, and surprisingly this includes Italy - or parts of it.

Published: 6 December 2023 17:17 CET
A rapt audience gazes at Saint Nicholas and the Krampus.
A rapt audience gazes at Saint Nicholas and the Krampus. Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP.

Many European countries celebrate the Feast of St Nicholas on December 6th, and for some it represents the start of the Christmas period

But who was Saint Nicholas? Is he the same as Santa Claus? Is December 6th an important date in Italy?

And who or what are the Krampus, who make an appearance in some Italian alpine towns and cities on and around the same day?

Who was St. Nicholas?

Nicholas of Myra (now the Anatolia region of modern Turkey) was a Greek Christian bishop who died on December 6th, 346.

He was known for miracles and giving gifts secretly, and is now the patron saint of little children, sailors, merchants, and students.

READ ALSO: Feast of the Immaculate Conception: Why is Italy on holiday on Friday?

According to legend, he once gave three apples to three hungry children which turned into gold the next day – which is why he’s often depicted in paintings holding three pieces of fruit.

St. Nicholas and his golden fruit. Source: Wikicommons.

As in Germany and Austria, in Italy he’s not the same character as Santa Claus, who’s known as Babbo Natale and isn’t traditional to Italian Christmas celebrations but is a modern import from the UK and US (unlike La Befana, the gift-giving witch who visits children on the eve of Epiphany).

How does Italy celebrate St. Nicholas?

It doesn’t, really – it’s not a national holiday like the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, and only a few parts of the country celebrate in any shape or form.

One of those places is Bari, the capital of the southern region of Puglia, as San Nicola – also known as San Nicolò – is the city’s patron saint (the city also celebrates his feast day on May 9th).

READ ALSO: Italy’s Christmas markets: Where and when to visit in 2023

The celebrations start with a very early morning mass in the Basilica di San Nicola, where the saint’s relics are kept, followed by a breakfast of hot chocolate and other festive treats.

In the evening there’s a torchlit procession that starts and finishes at the basilica, the lights on the city’s Christmas tree are turned on to officially announce the start of Christmas, and there’s traditionally a fireworks display.

At the other end of the country, in towns and villages in Italy’s central and eastern Alpine areas, San Nicola traditions more closely resemble those of nearby Austria and Germany. 

READ ALSO: Six quirky Italian Christmas traditions you should know about

In the northeastern city of Trieste and towns in Italy’s Sud Tirol/Alto Adige region – which was once part of Austria and remains culturally very Austrian – some children go to bed on the night of the 5th hoping to wake up to gifts of sweets and toys left by the saint.

But there’s also another character that makes an appearance on December 6th in parts of Alto Adige: the Krampus.

Who/what is the Krampus?

The Krampus is a horned anthropomorphic devil-creature who appears in traditional folklore in parts of German-speaking and Central Europe, whose purpose is to terrorise children into behaving well.

It’s the other half of kind of double act with Saint Nicolas; children who have been good receive sweets and gifts from the bishop, but children who’ve been naughty will get coal and a thrashing with birch rods from the Krampus.

READ ALSO: Where to catch Italy’s most impressive Christmas displays in 2023

Many towns and cities in these regions have a Krampuslauf – a Krampus run – in which performers dressed in scary costumes with carved wooden masks, huge horns and long hair parade through the streets. 

In Italy’s German-speaking Sud Tirol, many towns and cities continue this tradition, with the Krampus (or, in South Tyrolean dialect, Tuifl) appearing in Christmas markets on the night of the 5th and the 6th, and increasingly on various days throughout the Christmas period.

In the past the tradition of the Krampus rampaging through the streets could be frightening, but these days it’s become a more family-friendly affair. On December 6th in the town of Meran/Merano, San Nicolò parades through the market and faces off with the Krampus.

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MOVING TO ITALY

Readers recommend: Eight books you must read to understand Italy

After we published our own recommendations of some of the best books to read for those considering a move to Italy, The Local's readers weighed in with suggestions of your own.

Published: 25 April 2024 17:24 CEST
Readers recommend: Eight books you must read to understand Italy

In our previous guide to some of the best books to read before moving to Italy, we asked our readers to get in touch with your recommendations.

A number of you responded with your favourite reads about Italy; here’s what you suggested:

Ciao Bella – Six Take Italy

An anonymous reader describes this as “a delightful book about an Australian radio presenter who takes her husband and four children Bologna for a year which turns into two years (one being Covid).”

Kate Langbroek’s comic memoir “had me laughing and crying,” they write.

A Small Place in Italy

An apt choice for those considering their own rural Italian renovation project, Sam Cross recommends this book by British writer Eric Newby about buying, remodelling and moving into a cottage in the Tuscan countryside.

Cross also recommends Newby’s earlier work, ‘Love and War in the Appennines’, about his time as a British prisoner of war captured in Italy by the Germans in WWII.

READ ALSO: Eight of the best books to read before moving to Italy

Here, the author tells of his escape assisted by local partisans, “including a girl, Wanda, who became his future wife. A beautiful story,” says Cross.

The Italians

The Italians is written by veteran Italy correspondent John Hooper, who formerly wrote for the Guardian and is now the Economist’s Italy and Vatican reporter.

From politics to family traditions and the Mafia, the book tackles a range of aspects of Italian history and culture without getting lost in the weeds.

Simone in Rome describes it as “the best single volume on Italian customs and culture there is”.

READ ALSO: Nine things to expect if you move to rural Italy

Venice

It may be more than six decades old, but Jan Morris’s Venice is still considered one of the definitive English-language works on the lagoon city.

Book, Venice, library

A woman reads a book in Venice’s famous Acqua Alta library. Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Though a work of non-fiction, the book has been compared to Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited for its nostalgic, evocative tone.

“A personal view, beautifully written,” recommends reader Mary Austern.

Thin Paths

Described as a mix of travel book and memoir, Thin Paths is written by Julia Blackburn, who moved with her husband into a small house in the hills of Liguria in 1999.

Despite arriving with no Italian, over time she befriended her elderly neighbours, who took her into their confidence and shared stories of the village’s history under the control of a tyrannical landowner and the outbreak of World War II.

“Write it down for us,” they told her, “because otherwise it will all be lost.”

READ ALSO: Six things foreigners should expect if they live in Rome

In Other Words

If you’re currently learning Italian, consider Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words / In Altre Parole, which discusses the writer’s journey towards mastery of Italian through full immersion.

Reader Brett says, “The book is written in both Italian and English, presented on opposite pages, so it’s also a nice learning tool!”

Lahiri has since written Racconti Romani, or Roman Tales, a series of short stories set in and around Rome riffing off Alberto Moravia’s 1954 short story collection of the same name.

A Rosie Life in Italy

Ginger Hamilton says she would “highly recommend the ‘A Rosie Life in Italy’ series by Rosie Meleady.”

It’s “the delightfully written true story of an Irish couple’s move to Italy, purchase of a home, the process of rehabbing it, and their life near Lago di Trasimeno.”

The Dark Heart of Italy

Reader William describes The Dark Heart of Italy by Tobias Jones as an “excellent” book.

The product of a three-year journey across the Italy, Jones takes on the darker side of Italian culture, from organised crime to excessive bureaucracy.

Though it was published in 2003, Dark Heart stands the test of time: “twenty-odd years old but the essential truth of it hasn’t changed,” William writes.

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