When in Rome
The Eternal City is filled with history, stunning architecture and locals who know how to celebrate Christmas. Nancy Alsop takes a trip to see how this capital city deals with the busiest time of the year
Above: Vatican view from the Hilton Cavalieri
Spring in the achingly beautiful Tuscan hills, summer spent island hopping around Capri and Ischia, and up to magnificent Rome for some awe-inspiring ancient site-seeing; Italy has become ingrained in our northern European, sun-seeking collective psyches as a fair weather destination, somewhere to efficiently soak up both rays and culture. But the perennial British fixation on sunnier climes has led us to overlook perhaps its finest hour – the crisp, blue-skied, tourist-light winter, and most particularly, Christmas. While New York may have cornered the market on gratifyingly gaudy and commercially festive merry-making and the Germans have the monopoly on sumptuous traditional Christmases, Rome is the place to be for the theatrically atmospheric. And then there’s the food.
Unlike the more secular leanings of trans-Atlantic and northern European Christmases, as the seat of the holy pontiff, religion is intrinsically central to Rome’s festivities. The obvious place to start is St Peter’s Basilica; perpetually dramatic with its enveloping Bernini-designed colonnades and extravagant facade, at Christmas the swarms of mingling tourists and pilgrims are joined by life-sized nativity figures, annually revealed by the Pope on Christmas Eve – last year, the figurines totalled seventeen. As well as the traditional protagonists of the piece, there were flutists, peasants and a shepherd named Titaoca (who is typical of the nativity in northern Italy’s Trent region). More unusually, the baby Jesus was even serenaded by a bagpipe player – after all, the Holy See has never been known for its understatement. Meanwhile, rivaling the iconic obelisk in the centre of Piazza San Pietro is a towering, fairy-lit Christmas tree, which by night, is irresistibly enchanting against the backdrop of the floodlit basilica.
Refreshingly, despite its majesty and propensity for melodrama, the festive season is not done-to-death as it is in its Protestant incarnation; the beautifully-lit streets are not teeming with desperate, grabbing shoppers and instead, the season acts upon the city in far subtler, and more stylish ways. This is, perhaps, because in Italy, Christmas, or Natale (which translates literally as ‘birthday’) is essentially a family holiday, one of a host of religious days of significance. But despite the conspicuously absent paraphernalia and the notable lack of consumerism in the advent to Christmas, Rome does not disappoint on the days that count. Head once again to St Peter’s for midnight on the 24th where you can catch the Papal Mass in the piazza, but don’t overlook some of the city’s other exquisite churches in favour of getting a glimpse of the Pope (which, incidentally, you can do on the following day when he delivers his Christmas message in 60 languages, each met with cheers of recognition from the throng).
One spectacularly dramatic Midnight Mass is held up on the Capitoline, at Chiesa Di Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Piazza del Campidoglio 4; 06 679 81 55). Worshippers and onlookers gather round the dusky, candle-lit church, silent and expectant, until, at the stroke of midnight, the presiding monks crawl up to a sacred, shrouded olive-wood carving of the infant Jesus to reveal his image to an enraptured crowd, while – immaculately staged – heavenly music begins to play. Whatever your religious sensibilities, it is as theatrically spectacular as it is moving.
But should you find that materialistic habits die hard, there’s no shortage of opportunity to reach for your wallet. The ever-tantalising Via Dei Condotti is a fashionista’s dream, with its medley of shops that reads like a roll call of Italian bastions of style; Valentino, Prada, Cavalli, MaxMara and Bulgari all have their place along what is, essentially, Rome’s answer to Bond Street. What differentiates it dramatically from its London counterpart is the fact that it is stoppered by the Spanish Steps, at this time of year festooned with flowers – yet another papal bestowal, placed on 8 December to mark the day of the Immaculate Conception. And even if you can’t afford to buy the season’s accoutrements, you can always settle for a bag of roasted chestnuts, which are so available on every street corner that the whole city is permeated with their evocative, wintry pungence.
Meanwhile, for more inexpensive booty, the triple-fountained Piazza Navona hosts an annual Christmas market, where you can pick up torrone (nutty nougat) and nativity scene statuettes while kids can visit the often multiple Santa Clauses (La Bifana) who are dotted around. And if it’s the presepi (nativity scenes) that take your fancy, you’d be well-advised to make for Piazza Del Popolo, where, from November to January there is a temporary exhibition of traditional cribs, some of which date back to the 1500s.
After all these breathtaking sights, heightened at this time of year by pomp and circumstance, it is vital to find a retreat where you can escape the roaring din of motorini and markets. One such unparalleled sanctuary is the Hilton Cavalieri; set atop Monte Mario overlooking the Vatican and within its own 15-acre park, it manages to straddle a happy medium, being seemingly removed from the hustle bustle and yet eminently part of Rome – which might just have something to do with the dazzling panoramic vistas of the Eternal City. The room we stayed in, an executive suite on the eighth floor, was luxuriant, cosy and stylish, with floor to ceiling, sliding glass doors revealing the city in all her splendour below, from the somewhat grandiloquent Vittorio Emmanuele building (commonly known as The Typewriter) to the feat of structural engineering that is St Peter’s Renaissance duomo.
Upon arrival, the ever-attentive hotel staff left a chilled bottle of champagne – quite the thing for a night spent on the roomy balcony, from which we were treated to fireworks over the Vatican – and delicate finger pastries. But if, after all this, you still need to unwind, hop in the lift down to the basement where you’ll find the spa, which can only be described as heavenly; two hours later, we emerged, pummelled, moisturised and ready for another glass.
If you can prise yourself from your balcony (or from the spa for that matter), make sure you try La Pergola, the hotel’s three Michelin-starred restaurant and savour both the views from the roof terrace and the exquisite food, a refined take on traditional Roman fare. Perhaps, however, one of the most extraordinary aspects of the hotel is the fact that it is a veritable art gallery in its own right; while you sip your Martini, you can also gaze upon as many as three Tiepolo masterpieces in the lobby. Part of the personal collection amassed by hotel owner Guido Angelo Terruzzi, these three pictures, which he bought in 2006 at a Sotheby’s auction (the first time any Tiepolos had been seen at auction for some 50 years), were too large for his villa, so he chose instead to treat the guests to the Venetian artist’s extraordinary work; and it certainly makes a change from the generic efforts on display in most hotels the world over.
When you have recovered and refuelled sufficiently for another venture into town, make sure that you spend Christmas eve feasting on traditional and delicious fish dishes accompanied by spumante. And above all, don’t forget to at least bring a panettone home for those you left behind, after all, no Christmas is complete without one. Buon Natale.
Special nightly rates at the Rome Cavalieri Hilton (+39 06 35091; www.cavalieri-hilton.it) start from €325 (£220) per room in a luxurious double room, including buffet breakfast and VAT. Offer valid from the 22 December 2007–7 January 2008.