ANNO DOMINI 1223
A JOURNEY BACK TO REDISCOVER THE MAGIC OF THE FIRST NATIVITY SCENE
ANNO DOMINI 1223
It is Christmas night in 1223. In Greccio, a village near Rieti, the nativity scene is performed for the first time.
Under a starry sky, St Francis and his followers gathered in a rocky grotto that resembled the cave in Bethlehem. The atmosphere was charged with spirituality and fervour, while the sound of liturgical singing and prayers resounded in the air.
"Fifteen days before Christmas, St Francis called a local man, named John, and begged him to help him realise a wish: “I would like to depict the Child born in Bethlehem, and somehow see with the eyes of the body the hardships he found himself in because of the lack of the things necessary for a newborn baby, how he was laid in a crib and how he lay on the hay between the ox and the donkey”.
But the story of its conception is complex and intertwined with that of a man: St Francis of Assisi, who imagined the staging of the nativity scene to send a message to the world: Bethlehem is within us.
This touching nativity scene in Greccio not only powerfully communicated the message of Christ's birth, but also helped to involve the community in a more lively and participatory celebration of Christmas.
Anno Domini 1223 celebrates the birth of the crib with an artistic and theatrical journey that will evoke the deepest and most poetic roots of this tradition, bringing its origins back to life with the same unchanged wonder and enchantment
Saturday 21 December
6 p.m. - 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday, 22 December
6 p.m. - 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Living Nativity Scene
Saturday 28 December
6 p.m. - 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday, 29 December
6 p.m. - 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Free entrance - Reservation required
Max. 50 people per shift
Entrance from
Via Vincenzo Sabini
(Corner of Via Santa Teresa no.8)
