Crib
Church of Santa Maria della neve
Eighteenth century crib (“La Rutta”)
Eighteenth century crib
(“Holy Family”)
The Crib is a lava cave where the priest Mariano Valerio took refuge from a violent thunderstorm in 1741. Enchanted by the beauty of the place he decided to set up a Crib here. He hired several local craftsman to create the “Characters” which are richly clothes life-size masterpieces of wax and wood. The crib was completed in 1830 e and on Christmas eve of 1852 it was consacreted and opened to the faithful. The Crib and its “characters” had retained their beauty to these day during Christmas celebrations, the churchopen daily becames the site of moving religious ceremonies that call faithful back to tradition.