Christmas Day and Santo Stefano, Italy
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, you may attend a midnight mass in any town in Italy and marvel at the numerous nativity scenes set up in seemingly every spare nook. In places where locals take particular care in their nativity scenes, such as Assisi, some of them may even include real people and animals! Most places are closed on Christmas Day, so if you want to eat out, choose a restaurant ahead of time and reserve a table. The day following Christmas is known as St. Stephen's Day, and it's also an open event in Italy, with banks, galleries, and stores typically remaining closed, so prepare accordingly.
