L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 2014 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 3 visitors and tourists, who walk through the twinkling Christmas l i g h t s a n d t e m p o r a r y s t a n d s expanding the usual display of m e r c h a n d i s e . T h i s i n c l u d e s handcrafted wood or terracotta figurines of the Holy Family and other symbolic characters, b u t a l s o a n i m a l s , h o u s e h o l d tools, and caricatures of con- t e m p o r a r y p o l i t i c i a n s . T i n y r e p l i c a s o f h o u s e s , t r e e s , bridges, and creative building materials to reproduce moun- tains, grass, and lakes are also available, some of them even electric-powered. The market has pretty much everything to meet everybody's decorating desires and the price range is wide, yet handmade complete nativity sets can be very expen- sive. A combination of sacred and profane, the typical Neapolitan Nativity dates back to the late 1 8 t h c e n t u r y a n d h a s b e e n passed on for generations by skilled artists. Nowadays, the b e s t t i m e t o v i s i t V i a S a n Gregorio Armeno – this is the real name of the alley – is prob- a b l y d u r i n g t h e F a l l , r i g h t before the busier holiday sea- son, when it's possible to watch t h e c r a f t s m e n p r e p a r e t h e i r s h o p s a n d w o r k o n t h e f i g - u r i n e s , c a r v i n g a n d p a i n t i n g them. Yet the evocative Christmas a t m o s p h e r e g o e s b e y o n d t h e a l l e y ' s l i m i t s a n d e x t e n d s t h r o u g h o u t t h e c i t y , w i t h wreaths and ornaments adorning the buildings and a delicious smell of struffoli (honey balls) c o m i n g o u t o f t h e b a k e r i e s . Living nativities are also very popular, and the local National Museum of San Martino, a for- m e r m o n a s t e r y , h o s t s t h e r e m a r k a b l y l a r g e c o l l e c t i o n "Presepe Cuciniello", which c o n s i s t o f o v e r 1 6 0 h u m a n c h a r a c t e r s , 8 0 a n i m a l s , 2 8 angels, and about 450 miniature objects from the 1700's. According to the Catholic tradition, most Italian families built up their trees and elabo- rate presepi on December 8, the f e a s t o f t h e I m m a c u l a t e C o n c e p t i o n , a n d w i l l p l a c e Baby Jesus in the crib on the night of the 24th. The tradition of sculpting nativity scenes began in the 13th century and spread all over Italy thanks to St. Francis of T r a v e l i n g d o w n O l y m p i c B l v d i n B e v e r l y H i l l s California, there is no shortage of rubberneck worthy Italian l u x u r y c a r s r e v v i n g t h e i r engines towards the next stop- light. Lamborghinis, Ferraris and perhaps less well known to t h e a v e r a g e A m e r i c a n , t h e Maserati, which celebrated its 100th birthday on December 1st of this year. To commemorate the historic milestone, Maserati is taking a tour of the world hosting gatherings of Maserati owners and sponsoring events such as Polo tournaments in Montecarlo, London, Dubai and Palm Springs. Like many Italian success stories, this one begins as a f a m i l y e n d e a v o r , i n v o l v i n g many of the Maserati brothers but primarily, Alfieri, Ettore and Ernesto. Setting up shop in Bologna in 1914, it was artist and brother Mario who took inspiration from the city and styled the Maserati logo after the trident carried by Neptune's statue in Piazza Maggiore. The brothers first major contribution to the world was not, however, with cars but in airplanes, hav- ing created the spark plugs used i n t h e p l a n e f l o w n b y p o e t Gabriele d'Annunzio in his 1918 attack on Vienna during the First World War. It took more than a decade before the car manufacturer would make a n a m e f o r i t s e l f o n l a n d . I n 1929, the Maserati V4 set a l a n d s p e e d w o r l d r e c o r d a t 246.069 km/h (153mph), which remained unbeaten until 1937. Maserati would continue to set a n d b r e a k w o r l d r e c o r d s throughout its innovative 100- year history. But the best is yet to come for the car company. 2014 has been a record breaking year in terms of product sales in North America, exceeding both 2012 a n d 2 0 1 3 s a l e s c o m b i n e d . Focusing on more consumer friendly products, such as the Quattro porte Sedan that seam- lessly blends comfort and size for a family of five with the acceleration power of a sports car going from 0-60 mph in 5.1 seconds. If space isn't an issue and you are in a real hurry, the GranTourismo MC Centennial Edition clocks in at 4.5 seconds and starts at the *reasonable* base price of only $143,400. For that chunk of change, I'm not sure any of us have been good enough for Santa to bring us one. With 100 years down, Maserati continues to break records in the new Millennium Assisi, who recreated it with a manger and real characters in a cave in Greccio, a small town in Lazio region, to celebrate the mass on Christmas Eve in 1223. In just a few centuries, living or static presepi could be found in any Catholic church and were often exported outside Italy. The golden age for this peculiar form of art was in the Baroque period (16th – 18th centuries). T h e w o r l d ' s f i r s t l i v i n g nativity is still commemorated in Greccio every year by stag- ing six different performances, featuring medieval costumes and settings. One of the artisan shops in Naples Founded on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Maserati can now look back on 100 years of success PAIGE HOFFMAN Continued from page 1 The typical Neapolitan Nativity is a combination of sacred and profane Among the wood or terracotta fig- urines, there are caricatures of con- temporary people

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