Thursday 8 December, on the day of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the celebrations of the city for Christmas 2022 will officially start. Gospel choirs, street artists, acrobats on stilts, elves and fairies, tastings of typical sweets, entertainment for children, the switching on of the special lighting on the building of the Liguria Region and the lights of the Christmas tree in Piazza De Ferrari with the delivery, at Palazzo Ducale, of the Cross of San Giorgio to Gino Paoli by the president of the Liguria Region and councilor for culture John Toti. This is the highlight of the day, with a series of initiatives to celebrate the Immaculate Conception and kick off a “Liguria, festivals of light”.
From 5 pm, the central Piazza De Ferrari will come alive with the lighting of the Palazzo della Regione, thanks to the contribution of Iren with special low energy consumption LEDs, with which a series of Christmas-themed images will take shape on the facade, with the music it will continue until 7pm. In the square, entertainment and initiatives for adults and children, with tastings of Christmas sweets, street artists, sledges, snowmen and even Santa Claus, who arrived for the occasion from the Santa Claus village in Rovaniemi.
At 6 pm the lighting of the large Christmas tree coming from Ponte Di Legno in the province of Brescia, thanks to the Pact of Friendship signed between the two Regions: to turn on the lights after the countdown as for the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center in New York, will be the children in the square, together with the president of the Toti Region and the mayor Marco Bucci. Following this, the ceremony will take place in Palazzo Ducale in which Governor Toti will deliver, for the first time, the Cross of San Giorgio, the honor established by the Region ‘in favor of Italian or foreign citizens who have distinguished themselves for particular merits of cultural, social or moral value’.
“Liguria Region, like every year, wants to make the Christmas holidays of the Genoese and Ligurians special with a series of initiatives also to support tourism, which in 2022 has recorded data beyond any rosy forecast – explains the president of the Liguria Region John Toti -. An autumn that started very well with the record in October and with a more than satisfactory November: numbers that we want to consolidate also in winter and above all in December, with the day of the Immaculate Conception which will be one of the key moments of the festivities. Genoa will be the protagonist, with a light show, music and the distribution of sweets in the square for adults and children; on the building of the Region there will also be special energy-saving lighting, but with a highly spectacular play of lights, which will entertain us for the entire Christmas period, up to the New Year organized by Mediaset, live on Canale 5, presented by Federica Panicucci, to offer another important moment of visibility for Liguria, with top-level artists such as Patty Pravo, the Gemelli Diversi, Anna Tatangelo. We are also specially preparing a commercial that will be broadcast on Mediaset: an incisive communication campaign that will link up with the one scheduled for the Sanremo Festival. These holidays and December 8 in particular will be a time to be together, in a more Covid-free Christmas than the others and it will be nice to see Liguria all lit up, also thanks to the traditional Manarola nativity scene, a major tourist attraction for our region . We will celebrate Christmas together, accompanying the Ligurians, with the lights, sounds and flavors of tradition, in the most serene and festive way possible, after difficult and even painful years for everyone”.
“In the month of December – adds the mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci – we will return to breathe the atmosphere of Christmas, a celebration that always brings a little magic and which makes our city even more beautiful. Once again Genoa will be able to offer an incredible scenario in Piazza De Ferrari and throughout the centre, thanks to the many initiatives scheduled in the coming weeks: a rich program of events that will bring joy and serenity during these festivities both to the Genoese and to the many tourists ready to reach our city”.
Some samples of the Christmas commercial ‘Liguria, festa di luce’ will be published on the Region’s social channels, in which the magic of Christmas involves the young protagonist, transported by light through Liguria to the lantern, transformed into an all-Ligurian tree: the video will published on 8 December and also broadcast on Mediaset networks to promote Genoa and Liguria as holiday destinations.
The dedicated initiatives will also involve the rest of the territory, with parties, illuminations and special events in particular in the Municipalities (in addition to the four provincial capitals, also Sestri Levante, Ceriale, Alassio, Pontedassio, Sarzana, Bordighera, Taggia, Vallecrosia, Molini di Triora, Loano, Chiusavecchia, Vezzano Ligure, Campomorone, Uscio, Cairo Montenotte, Framura, Cicagna, Diano Marina, Cogorno, Pietra Ligure, Recco) beneficiaries of the Fut funds, with over 560 thousand euros allocated by the Region to support Christmas events with the aim of further deseasonalizing more tourism than in Liguria, after a record summer, records positive numbers also in October and November.
“In recent years, the Christmas period has seen Liguria – says the regional councilor for tourism Augusto Sartori – increasingly the protagonist of the tourist scene. The return of the idea of the ‘sea in winter’, the increasingly beautiful and widespread Christmas events in our municipalities, the professionalism of the workers and entrepreneurs of the sector and ever greater promotion mean that throughout the region people are increasingly thinking of the Christmas as such a tourist season 100%. The rediscovery of the wonderful historic nativity scenes, a tradition that risked becoming less and less known even to the Ligurians themselves, the lights and colors of our cities, video mapping, and then music, art, gastronomy and parties. This year then as tourism department we were able to support the municipalities in their efforts to make Christmas unique by allocating over 500 thousand euros of co-financing to the municipalities that presented high-profile projects in recent months. I am sure that the major events planned will make Liguria talk throughout Italy”.
“Also this year Genoa greets the arrival of the holidays with a great moment in the square, aimed at everyone – continues Matteo Garnero, director of the In Liguria promotion agency -. The new lighting by De Ferrari and all the initiatives connected to this furthermore, they will be a positive vehicle for promoting our city and our region as a destination for the Christmas and winter holidays”.
Also this year on the day of the Immaculate Conception, at 4 pm, the inauguration of the Nativity scene set up in the atrium of the Palazzo della Regione Liguria is scheduled, in the presence of the governor Toti, the mayor Bucci and the archbishop of Genoa, Monsignor Marco Tasca: coming from the collection of the Sanctuary of Nostra Signora del Monte, it is made up of statuettes attributable to the Genoese sculptor Pasquale Navone (1746 -1791), heir to the great Maragliane school. The historic nativity scene will overlook the square, so that it can be admired by anyone walking under the arcades of the building, residents and tourists.
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