The Giant Christmas tree and fir tree at St. Peter’s Square throughout the festive season is expected to be inaugurated on December 7, for this year. The crib scene for Christmas 2017 will be donated by the ancient Abbey of Monte Vergine in the Campania region of southern Italy and the scenery and crib figures in the 18th-century Neapolitan costumes will be produced by artisans in a local workshop.
The Christmas tree will be a giant, 28meter high red fir given by the Archdiocese of Elk, in north-eastern Poland and it will be cut down by a member of the local forestry service and transported over two thousand kilometers across central Europe and Italy, before arriving in the Vatican.
On the morning of 7th December, some of the young artists, together with the delegation from Poland and from the Campania region will meet Holy Father Pope Francis, ahead of the official inauguration and lighting ceremony of 4:30 pm.
