Spending Christmas in Naples

A famous proverb says "paese che vai, usanza che trovi" (when in a new place, follow its customs): in the case of Italy, we could adapt it to "region che vai, usanza che trovi", especially where Christmas traditions are concerned.

by Silvia Semonella

Christmas in Naples

In Naples, Christmas is a deeply felt celebration, typically spent with the family who, between a game of tombola and a hand of cards, gather all together, especially around the festive table, an essential feature for any self-respecting Neapolitan.

But what are the Neapolitan traditions that are passed down from generation to generation?

First of all, on Christmas morning, despite the traffic and the crowds, a stroll through the heart of the historic centre is never missed, especially to San Gregorio Armeno (the famous street of nativity crib makers).

The afternoon, instead, is usually dedicated to the round of visits to relatives to exchange greetings.

The days from Christmas Eve onwards, meanwhile, are given over to cheerful family games of tombola and card games hugely popular in Naples, such as “Sette e mezzo” (Seven and a half): an occasion to be together, eating and drinking.

In recent years, as an alternative to tombola, the game of Sinco has also become popular: cards are handed out, but instead of numbers they bear the symbols of the Neapolitan playing cards. The aim is to complete one or more of the five available combinations and win the sums collected in a few glasses, which correspond to the classic "ambo, terna, quaterna" (pair, triple, quadruple) prize levels.

The traditional dishes of Neapolitan Christmas

Food is the true protagonist of a Neapolitan Christmas: there are countless traditional dishes that fill the table.

The queen of Christmas Eve lunch on the 24th is the escarole-stuffed pizza (pizza ripiena di scarola), which serves as a single dish in preparation for the big feast that evening; the evening menu, in fact, is essentially fish and seafood based: “per la Vigilia de lo Santo Natale ce vonno vruoccoli zuffritti co l'alice salate, vermicelli co la mollica de pane e vongolelle, o pure zuffritti co l'alice salate, anguille fritte, ragoste vullute co la sauza de zuco de limone, e uoglio e pure na cassuola de calamarielli” (For the Eve of Holy Christmas you need sautéed broccoli with salted anchovies, vermicelli with breadcrumbs and little clams, or else sautéed with salted anchovies, fried eels, boiled lobster with a sauce of lemon juice and oil, and even a casserole of small squid), as the great Neapolitan gastronome Ippolito Cavalcanti used to say.

And so, from here, the tradition of the “nuttata” (the night vigil) was born: the fishmongers, on the night between the 23rd and 24th of December, stay open so that everyone can buy fish for the Christmas Eve feast.

The first course is generally made up of spaghetti with clams, while the main course consists of fried salt cod and capitone (conger eel, also fried or chargrilled). Also essential is the insalata di rinforzo (reinforcement salad), which brings together various vegetables, green and black olives and salted anchovies, dressed in oil and vinegar.

Christmas Day lunch, on the other hand, features the phenomenal minestra maritata (married soup) and pasta with ragù and ricotta.

The soup gets this curious name because the mixed vegetables are boiled and added to the "consorte" (spouse), that is, a mixture of meats, which enriches the broth. It is a very rich dish made up of: carrot, onion, celery, whole peppercorns, a whole hen, two pig's trotters, a piece of beef rib cover, a ham bone, two pieces of ham rind, two parmesan rinds, salami, a piece of sausage and pork ribs (tracchie). Everything is put into a large pot that has been simmering since the previous evening and is carefully skimmed to remove the excess fat. At the end of cooking, the meat is removed and the broth strained; the vegetables, which have been boiling in another pot for half the cooking time (3/4 minutes), are drained and added to finish cooking in the strained meat broth. The mixture must rest for at least a good hour in the pot. The meat, by now tender after the long cooking, is shredded, cut into small pieces and mixed with the vegetables in a deep bowl, then served with a sprinkling of grated parmesan.

Sweets are a must: roccocò, mustacciuoli, susamielli, raffaioli (raffiuoli) and the essential struffoli, made in great quantities and given as gifts to relatives and friends.

One could say, then, that the entire philosophy of the Neapolitans, especially where Christmas festivities are concerned, is contained in the proverb: “meglio murì sazio che campà djuno!” (better to die full than to live hungry!).