December 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\nFirefighters will also place a garland of flowers on the top of the 12 metre-high statue of the Madonna.<\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s visit to the historic centre will result in street closures and\u00a0traffic restrictions\u00a0in the area around the Spanish Steps during the day.<\/p>\n
Later that evening, at 18.30, Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri will switch on the lights on the city’s Christmas tree in Piazza del Popolo and along the city’s main thoroughfare Via del Corso.<\/p>\n
Music will be provided by the choir school from Rome’s opera house.<\/p>\n
The Christmas tree – decorated with\u00a0hundreds of gold, silver and red baubles – leaves behind its traditional base at Piazza Venezia for the third year in a row due to Metro C subway works.<\/p>\n
The Vatican’s Christmas tree and Nativity scene were\u00a0inaugurated\u00a0on Sunday evening, while the popular crib exhibition 100 Presepi<\/em> opens under the colonnade in St Peter’s Square on Monday at 16.00.<\/p>\nSchools, public offices and many\u00a0businesses in the capital will be closed on 8 December however clothes shops\u00a0stay open as the day is seen as the official start of the Christmas shopping season.<\/p>\n
The city’s Christmas market in Piazza Navona was opened by the mayor on Saturday and runs until 6 January.<\/p>\n
From a public transport perspective, the day will mark the return of Rome’s trams, which were out of action for the past two months to facilitate infrastructure works, while the city’s free shuttle buses for Christmas shopping in the centre are up and running.<\/p>\n
This year the\u00a0festa<\/em>\u00a0falls on a Monday, meaning a long weekend, with around 14 million Italians expected to\u00a0use the opportunity to take a short holiday, many of them visiting Christmas markets across Italy.<\/p>\nCover image: Colonna dell’Immacolata Concezione, Piazza Miganelli, Rome.<\/em><\/p>\n