Can somebody suggest a website or some way to figure out what will be open Christmas Eve and Day. I know alot will be closed, but I'm trying to figure out how I can find a restuarant that will be open. I should mention that I am looking an alternative to calling restuarants in Florance from the US Or am I over reacting and should just wait until we arrive? What to do, what to do
Assume that everything will be closed but restaurants. Even for restaurants, it may be wise to reserve in advance. If you arrive a few days before, I'd say that reserving a couple of day before Xmas should be enough.
Yeah, I figured everything but some restuarants will be closed. Was just wondering if there was some way I could find out which were open with out calling this far in advance. We will probably just make reservations when we get in Thanks!
And to expand on KDP's question: is there any day around Christmas when people traditionally go out to eat? This will be our first Christmas in Italy: we've often been there at New Year, and booked ahead for a San Silvestro big meal; and at Easter, when we've eaten out for Easter Sunday lunch.
So is there an equivalent day at Christmas? Here in the UK I suppose it's Boxing Day (Dec 26th): how about in Italy?
Jonathan
Posts: 2978 | Location: Stroud, UK | Registered: 18 November 2001
The restaurants here decide who will be open each year. Not all are. Usually there is a sign on the door which says which ones are open, if that one isn't. If you are there for Vigilia, or Eve, the signs will be in place and you can seek out one on the list and make a "prenotazione" if you like, because the more popular ones will get filled. Boxing Day is San Stefano here and many go out for lunch that day. Most restaurants are open. If I think I might want to go out on Christmas, I ask at my favorite restaurants if they will be open. Rule of thumb is any restaurant not open on Sundays won't be open on Christmas Day. They're simply aimed toward workers' lunches. For Vigilia I would choose a fish restaurant for the tradition. Then you can also ask about any choral presentations in town as well, which is something splendid. Anywhere there are Sardegnan shepherds, and that covers a lot of territory because of a government program following WWII, one of them will usually walk the piazze on the Eve playing a bagpipe. There will also be roasted chestnuts to buy, and shops open until 8, with little kids following the bagpiper and running in and out of whatever is going on. Just the atmosphere is enough to pry me out of the house!
In Christmas Eve everything is open and extremely crowded until dinner time. In some regions, the Christmas dinner is the big event, some other areas prefer to have the big meal on the 25th itself, for lunch, some do both. In both days, contacting your hotels would be agood idea, since on Christmas even Flroence does not get as many tourists. Generally talking, for us Italians Christmas is the big family festivity, while those of us who decide to travel for the holidays do so between new Year'sand the piphany. For the San Silvestro (31 ecember) dinner, make sure you reserve: most rstaurants will have special parties going on, and often these parties are booked solid a week in advance or so.
Judith, the fish tradition fot he Eve is not exactly italian. it's more of a reagional tradition, that most central and souther regions share but not all. In Parma, for instance the traditional Christmas eve dishes are a type of semisweet pasta garnished with cinnamon, amaretti and butter and a vegetable soup (supa a la santè), while in Mantova the traditional dish is tortelli di zucca.
Thanks for the suggestions, Judith & Alice. Since this year Christmas Eve is on a Sunday, I guess we'll have to do the bulk of our food shopping on the 23rd. We're planning to arrive in Ostuni on the 21st or 22nd, so that should give us time to wander round out favourite restaurants and see who's doing what.
Jonathan
Posts: 2978 | Location: Stroud, UK | Registered: 18 November 2001
If Christmas eve is on a Sunday at least the main supermarkets stay open, at least up here. Actually, some supermarkets and foodstores stay open even on Christmas morning because some foods are best if frewsh. That's the case for sliced prosciutto: if you are serving prosciutto as an antipasto on Christmas you may want it to be sliced that very morning, so that it preserves all of its sweetness (once dried, the loss of humidity causes the salt to concentrate and there is a significant flavor loss). Anyway, the point is expect supermarkets to be open on Sunday 24, at elast in the morning.
I was really surprised last year as all the shops in Roma Termini (main train station/shopping center) were open all day on the 25th! Also, we found a restaurant which was open (and full of Italians) on Christmas day by finding one which had a sign outside in our neighbourhood. It was quite fun but I missed cooking a big Christmas meal.
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Or am I over reacting and should just wait until we arrive? What to do, what to do 
