It’s finally December, which means we are getting closer to my most favorite holiday of all, Christmas! Christmas markets serving cioccolato caldo, beautiful ordainments, and sparkling decorations are just some of the festive things Viterbo has to offer this time of year. As we get closer and closer to the 25th I feel Viterbo’s Christmas vibes coming out.
My favorite caffeterria (which I have mentioned before), on Via Oslavia is even putting up images of Santa Claus and hanging festive lights along its bar. Everything is coming into place slowly bust surely. Along with Christmas food and drinks there is always a call for gift shopping!
In America Christmas shopping starts immediately the day after Thanksgiving on what we call Black Friday. On Black Friday stores all throughout the U.S. open as early as midnight offering sales and discounts to millions of Americans looking to buy as much as possible and “save” as much money as possible along the way.
In my opinion black Friday is far too hectic to get any real shopping done. Crowds of people all lacking sleep and on a mission to get the best deals tends to crate a somewhat dangerous environment, where I feel pressured to buy items no one really needs. Viterbo didn’t seem to have anything that compared to black Friday, and honesty I didn’t feel as though I was missing out on much.
Instead Viterbo has set up a small but charming Christmas market in piazza del Sacrario. There you can find not only christmas related items like fuzzy red and green slippers, scarfs, and their latest hit touchscreen gloves! But also vintage accessories and great deals on electronic gadgets.
I come from San Diego, California where the Christmas season isn’t much different from other seasons, excluding the fact that malls put up huge Christmas trees and artist who are struggling to sell their mixtape resort to creating cheesy Christmas albums. The weather tends to stay in the high 60s F (15-20 C), and so the artificial ice rinks are brought out. You can even ice-skate only feet from the beach.
My best friend and I usually do our Christmas shopping in Ugg boots and shorts with a Starbucks peppermint mocha in hand (which is a holiday special and only available during the Christmas season), but in Viterbo things are much different. Here you will most likely find me struggling to haggle prices in broken Italian while wearing layers on top of layers of clothing, trying to keep warm in “real” winter weather.
Viterbo’s charm just seems to grow as we ease into the holiday season and I have realized that the locals make this time far more about tradition and spending time with family than about online shopping and stressing over whether or not elaborate gifts will make it your address in time to be professionally wrapped and placed under the tree.
Some seem to be perfectly happy with a fresh pair of red undies, just in time to wear for good luck on new years eve. Its tradition here after all.
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Coronado Beach, California 2015
Hey there reader! My name is Mina Marjanovic and I am a second year college student, majoring in journalism and public relations at Chico State University in California. I was born in Serbia and have lived in the U.S from the tender age of four. On my free time I enjoy traveling as well as writing and taking photographs. A lot of my most recent pictures can be viewed on my blog at minam96.vsco.co. Currently I am studying abroad in Viterbo, Italy, where I hope to expand my knowledge and gain memorable experiences.
