Christmas and New Year in Ravello

A month of festivities suspended above the Gulf of Salerno

Between December and January, Ravello—home to just over two thousand residents at 350 meters above sea level in the province of Salerno, Campania—sheds its summer tourist skin to return to its authentic village roots. "Christmas and New Year in Ravello" is the program curated by the Municipality of Ravello and the Ravello Foundation: a long calendar weaving together popular devotion, street games, cinema, theater, and world-class musical performances, spread across the historic center's squares, ancient churches, Villa Rufolo, and the Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium.

The Christmas market and local traditions

The heart of the event is the Christmas market, held from 8 am to 5 pm in the Piazza Duomo parking area, featuring stalls with handicrafts, sweets, and typical products from the Amalfi Coast. Surrounding it are the rituals that have never faded in Ravello:

• the zampognari (bagpipers), who roam the historic center's alleys from the Feast of the Immaculate Conception to Epiphany;
• neighborhood tombolate (bingo games), moving from square to square—Piazza Duomo, Torello, San Cosma, and San Pio;
• the Trofeo Riconoscimenti, an afternoon of traditional games in Piazza Duomo;
• the Levata del Bambino, the liturgical gesture that accompanies and concludes the Christmas season in local churches;
• the collective nativity scene of the "Creiamo il presepe" initiative, open to visitors until Epiphany.

For children, the Giardini del Monsignore host the Santa Claus Village, while the arrival of Santa Claus in Piazza Duomo on the morning of December 25th kicks off the holiday festivities.

Concerts at the Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium

The white sail of the Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium, the final European work of the great Brazilian architect, provides a venue that gives the festival a scale far beyond the size of the village. Here, the Ravello Foundation programs the season's highlights: the 2025-2026 season featured Massimo Ranieri with his show "Tutti i sogni ancora in volo" and Francesco Paolantoni with a jazz reinterpretation of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," while the New Year's Concert on January 1st was conducted by Spanish maestro Jordi Bernàcer leading the Benevento Philharmonic Orchestra. Proceeds from the holiday concerts were donated to Doctors Without Borders.

New Year's Eve in Piazza Duomo

On December 31st, the day begins at 11 am with traditional games in Piazza Duomo, continuing in the afternoon with Holy Mass and the Te Deum. After midnight, the celebration continues with a toast, fireworks, a DJ set, and a Silent Party that lasts until the first light of dawn: on the morning of January 1st, breakfast is served in the square, overlooking the panorama that made the City of Music famous.

Cinema, theater, and hiking

The program extends well beyond the main holidays. The "Cinema in Ravello" series brings about thirty screenings to the Auditorium from mid-December to early February; the Villa Rufolo Theater hosts Neapolitan drama—in December 2025, Eduardo De Filippo's "Uomo e Galantuomo" was performed for the fiftieth anniversary of the La Ribalta company; and excursions along the Alta Costa trails complete the program for those wishing to discover the Amalfi Coast off-season.

Why visit Ravello in winter

In summer, Ravello is the town of the Ravello Festival and tour buses; in winter, it is something else entirely. The lights glowing in the square, the scent of zeppole and struffoli, the sound of bingo games, and the sea visible through the arches of the Cathedral reveal the most authentic dimension of this Campania village: a community Christmas where a world-class symphonic concert and a game of bingo in a small square coexist on the same afternoon.