L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano PAGE��� 22 Yes, Christmas Markets are primarily for shopping, but a vacation that includes Italy���s Christmas Markets (Mercatino di Natale) has the potential to replace blatant commercialism with some awe inspiring moments. You can have a big city experience and visit the multiple markets set up in Rome or choose to travel to a picturesque northern Italian village. During the Christmas holi- In fact, Rome was the setting for the first Christmas mass, which was held at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore Hearing the church���s bells ringing at midnight on Christmas Eve as they have for so many centuries is a moving experience. The nativity in Santa Maria Maggiore, the oldest presepe or permanent nativity scene, was carved in marble by Arnolfo di Cambio in the late 13th century for the first Rome Jubilee. This nativity is currently on display in the Peter's Square. Large Christmas trees are also set up in other parts of the city. Rome's main streets are decorated with lights and often have entertainment by roving musicians.There���s even a Christmas Market and an ice skating rink near Castel Sant��� Angelo. It���s interesting to note that while you are shopping for gifts that will be exchanged back in the states on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, traditionally in Italy the suspense extends until Epiphany on Januray 6. While shopping the Christmas Markets in Rome some convenient hotel choices are the Suite Art Navona, Hotel RaphaelRelais & Chateaux, or Relais Navona 71. These range in price from $170/night to $247/night. US Airways, British Airways and Iberia all have round trip air- days, Rome is always dazzling and in Piazza Navona you���ll find its most famous Christmas Market. Here, you���ll be surrounded by food and drink specialties and a huge selection of locally made gift items. And, you���ll also be in an ancient setting with amazing nativity scenes and religious ceremonies. church���s museum. Below the altar is a reliquary said to contain pieces of the original manger. Nativity scenes have always been part of the Christmas season in Italy, but Christmas trees haven���t. Today, however, you can have the giant Christmas tree experience of Rockfeller Center, but in Rome it is located in Saint fares to Rome for just under $1,000 (travelocity.com). Travelocity also features packages with air and 5 nights hotel from $1,549 per person. If you prefer that your Italian Christmas Market shopping experience take place in a small town, you have a number of choices from the northern border DOT ANDERSON CONTRIBUTOR FRANK LA ROSA CONTRIBUTOR Palms hold a special place in my gardening experience. Perhaps this is because as a boy I helped my grandfather sprout and grow coconut palms in his backyard nursery in Miami. Also, the first time I saw palms in Palermo, they left indelible images of the Mediterranean. Palms are quite easy to grow, and some can live for short periods of time in very cold climates. The Windmill Palm, Trachycarpus, fortunei grows as far north as Vancouver where it can take temperatures down to 10F for short times. It is a very suitable palm for almost anywhere in California. It is drought tolerant, slow growing and very attractive. The much larger Phoenix palms are a Mediterranean image, and Phoenix canariensis is the most widely grown palm in the world. Its mature height can reach 60 feet (much less in suburbia), and its feathery, graceful fronds form an almost perfect orb. This palm requires a lot of room to develop. The King and Queen Palms are more suitable for the urban The Windmill Palm, Trachycarpus space. The King Palm, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana is a fine, elegant palm for any garden. It grows fast and is relatively cold tolerant, a perfect palm for S. California. And, the dead fronds drop off freely without having to prune them. The Queen Palm, Syagrus romanzoffiana grows moderately fast and also suits a small garden. The fronds move gracefully in the lightest breeze. This palm a fine one to set off the corner of buildings, and it makes lovely colonnades when planted between sidewalks and streets, and it does not heave sidewalks. The Kentia Palm is the most similar in appearance to the Coconut Palms. Some of us acquire it as a Christmas gift palm for indoors at where it will grow for many years if it is taken outside periodically to have its fronds sprayed off with water. It thrives better outside, here in S. California. My 4 inch palm seedling now reaches to the second story where it is very tropical looking. The Parlor Palm, Chaemdorea elegans is another palm for indoors. It is healthy even in dry heat, stuffy rooms, and poor care, but if taken outside for soil drenching and for spraying off the fronds, it will grow well indoors, indefinitely. Areca palms are extremely attractive and popular and are, actually, best grown indoors in good light. They are sold in THURS DAY, ��� DECEMBER��� 6, ��� 2012 towns to the hillside villages in Tuscany. Each offers special sites and experiences for visitors who want to wrap up memories along with their presents. well priced (from $127/night on venere.com). You can expect a similar experience in Northeastern Italy, when you choose Trentino as In Tuscany, the village of Lucca���s Christmas market in Piazza San Michele is active throughout the holiday season, but they host an expecially merry Medieval Christmas market December 10-12, which showcases arts, crafts and music from the 14th century. Siena is another Tuscan town known for its Christmas markets including medieval arts to add a festive note. This type of pageantry back home just wouldn���t be the same, because there you are in true medieval settings. You really can���t help but feel that somehow time travel might be possible and somehow, inexplicably, you���ve discovered it. Farther north, in the Northwestern Italian town of Aosta, Italy you can experience Christmas Markets in Alpine settings that will make you feel as though you���re inside a festive snow globe scene. But this is not Hollywood wintry wonderland magic. This is the real thing from the snow to the sleigh bells jingling. Here a classic wintry atmosphere creates the perfect Christmas shopping setting. The Cecchin Hotel, located in Aosta City, has an Alpine flair and is your Christmas Market destination. This Tyrolian village market begins early in midNovember and extends through January 6, 2013. As with all of Italy���s Christmas Markets local foods play a special role in satisfying hungry shoppers and providing excellent gifts. Shoppers can warm up with pauses for hot toddies and savory treats to chase the chill. You can even anticipate a large slice of hot apple strudel because Austria and Switzerland are right across the border. Grand Hotel Trento, located in Trento's historical center, provides superb views of the Trentino Alps as well as a health center with sauna, Turkish bath and beauty treatments. All in all, a trip to Italy���s Christmas markets holds the potential to return some of the awe-inspiring moments of the holidays as well as many small moments to savor. If this is your gift to yourself, be prepared to enjoy it for many Christmases to come. For more information visit christmasmarkets.com and lifeinitaly.com or speak with your local travel agent or a travel consultant specializing in Italy. The Queen Palm, Syagrus romanzoffiana clumps, and when planted in attractive, glazed pots, they are beautifully graceful. I must mention Chamaerops humilis, the Mediterranean fan palm that I often see growing in its native country, Sicily. It is tough and hardy, taking cold down to -14F! However, when transplanted here to S. California it grows tall, lushly tropical, and beautiful. I know of 6-8 foot specimens next to the Timken Art Museum in Balboa Park. Climate and geography do affect growth. Really, I could not live where palms will not grow. But, as you can see we can have them in our homes in any clime, and they also do grow in unexpected places; Phoenix canariensis grows in Rome, Northern Italy, and even up in Scotland

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