Fifty days of appointments, along a three-month calendar, from November 2023 to January 2024, with over one hundred events scheduled between the center of Sorrento and its characteristic hamlets, intended for citizens and tourists who want to visit Sorrento during the Christmas holidays.
From November 24, 2023 to January 21, 2024, music and traditions, faith and solidarity, theater and cinema, art and dance, taste and folklore, will be the ingredients of the fifteenth edition of M’Illumino d’Inverno, the container of cultural events promoted by the Municipality of Sorrento in collaboration with the Campania Region and the Sorrento Foundation.
“M’Illumino d’Inverno is a container that has grown more and more over the years, so much so that it has long established itself at the top of the ranking of Christmas projects in the Campania Region. Important events for the city of Sorrento”.
“A billboard that establishes the collaboration between the administration, the Sorrento Foundation and the protagonists of the city for a shared program. Over a hundred events have been organized for everyone, especially for children, for example the Santa Claus Village that will be set up at Villa Fiorentino. Events designed for citizens and tourists and also for this reason the location and the calendar of events have been carefully studied”.
The event will begin, as per tradition, with the lighting of the large Christmas tree in Piazza Tasso and the illuminations, set for November 25, 2023 at 6 p.m. From 24 to 26 November 2023, “Black Friday” and “Shopping under the tree”, which will involve the shops in the center with dedicated offers and shows set up in various points of the city.
From 27 November to 1 December, the 46th edition of the Professional Cinema Days, an event that attracts about two thousand accredited people, including producers, distributors, exhibitors, but also actors, directors, journalists, institutions and professionals, constituting the main moment of confrontation for the film industry. The 2023 edition offers free screenings and events open to the public, and many events dedicated to cinephiles.
Still cinema with the second edition of the Sorrento Film & Food Festival, scheduled from December 27, 2023 to January 6, 2024 at the Cinema Armida in Sorrento, which will be divided into free screenings, meetings, awards and conferences with the protagonists of national and global showbiz and masterclasses for young actors.
The musical offer is also rich and varied. From November 30 to December 2, 2023, at 8.30 p.m., in the Cathedral of Saints Philip and James in Sorrento, the spotlight will be on the twelfth edition of “Suoni Divini”, with Tiromancino, Ilaria Pilar Patassini and the GnuQuartet. The start is entrusted to the latter, an original group that has been able to take Nicolò Paganini’s music away from the classical conception and the virtuoso drafting. This is followed on 1 December by Ilaria Pilar Patassini, who moves between songwriting, jazz, world music and classical music and, on 2 December, by Tiromancino, an important and unique piece of Italian music.
There are four appointments of “Natalèa for the villages and marinas”, the festival between theater and music, created to promote and enhance the Sorrento territory which will start on December 3, 2023 at 7.00 p.m. at the church of Santa Lucia, with “Neapolitan Christmas”, to continue on December 6 at 7 p.m. at the church of Sant’Anna in Marina Grande with “Notte ‘ncantata”, on December 11 at 7.00 pm at the church of Sant’Attanasio Vescovo di Priora with “Christmas songs for you” and Thursday 21 at 8.00 pm with “E’ Natale, che spettacolo”, with the participation of Fabio Brescia.
From 18 to 20 December 2023, starting at 7.30 pm, Sorrento Jazz returns, in its twenty-fourth edition, which will be hosted in the renovated halls of the Tasso theater. It opens with the “Jazz Mass” of the Cantori di Posillipo conducted by Gaetano Raiola, on the 19th Gaemaria Palumbo Quartet in “Songs”, on December 20th the long-awaited show by Sergio Cammariere with his quartet and, on December 21st, the presentation of the “Surrentum Eventi” prize to Maestro Alfredo Santoloci and, to follow, the concert of the Blind International Orchestra, with the participation of Javier Girotto.
More music, with the review proposed by the Sorrento Concert Society that will kick off on December 15, 2023 with a tribute to Enrico Caruso. Three days of concerts, between the Tasso Theatre, the Circolo dei Forestieri and the Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, to remember the great tenor on the 150th anniversary of his birth. The program will continue with various dates, including the Christmas concert, at 5.30 p.m., on December 25, at the church of the Annunziata, on December 31, at 11.30 a.m. at the Tasso theater, the New Year’s Eve concert and the following day at 5.30 p.m., again at the Tasso theater, the New Year’s concert of the Sorrento Sinfonietta International Orchestra. The music of Scarlatti, Bellini and Verdi, on the other hand, will accompany the performances of the “Tableaux vivants da Artemisia Gentileschi”, real living paintings taken from the paintings of the great artist, which will take place on January 13 and 14, 2024, in three shifts, at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., in the Basilica of Sant’Antonino.
It continues on January 4, 2024, at 9.00 p.m., at the Tasso theater with the concert of Enzo Gragnaniello, on January 7 at 8.00 p.m., at the Sant’Antonino theater, with Diego Moreno and on January 9, at 8.00 p.m., at the Sant’Antonino theater, with Fede’N Marlen. There will be numerous concerts of classical and gospel music scheduled in various churches in Sorrento, and several appointments with engaging street bands in the city center. The actor Enzo Decaro will be the protagonist, on January 14, at 8.00 pm at the Tasso theater with the comedy “It’s not true but I believe it”.
On December 3, 2023, to the delight of the little ones, the Christmas Village opens at Villa Fiorentino where, until December 26, from 4.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m., you can meet Santa Claus and many other characters who will also be the protagonists of various meetings in schools and the Little Elves’ Workshop, also hosted at Villa Fiorentino from December 22 to January 6, from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. Also dedicated to children, throughout the month of December, the special Christmas Train that will cross the center and all the hamlets, to collect letters addressed to Santa Claus.
There is also space for faith and solidarity, with the two Living Nativity Scenes set up on the hill of Casarlano and in the gardens of the Cathedral. Symbols of the true spirit of Christmas, created by dozens of volunteers, the one in the village of Casarlano will be open to the public on 26/27/29 and 30 December 2023 and 1/2/5/6/7/12/13/14 and 16 January 2024 from 18.00 to 20.00, while that of the Cathedral, on 23/25/28 and 30 December 2023 and 1/5/6 and 7 January 2024 from 17.30 to 20.00.
Of course, there was no shortage of flavours, with numerous appointments. From 6 to 10 December 2023, Chocoland, the artisan chocolate fair that will offer show cooking by master pastry chefs, music and even a fashion show inspired by the “Food of the Gods” returns between Piazza Veniero and Corso Italia. Piazza Lauro, on the other hand, hosts, from 7 to 10 December, the Sorrento Street Food Village 2023, with many Apecars that will offer pizzas, sandwiches, fried foods, specialties from various regions and many other proposals all in a gourmet key. Pizza will be the protagonist again on December 24 at the pizzeria Da Gigino and on January 8 at the pizzeria Da Michele, with free tastings.
After Christmas, the celebrations continue with the arrival of the new year. On December 31, 2023, at 6.00 p.m., in Piazza Tasso, the lighting of the Fire Pacifier, preceded by the parade of the folk group. From 11.00 p.m. to 3.00 a.m., in Piazza Tasso, the New Year’s Eve Party, with live music and DJ sets. At the stroke of one o’clock it will be possible to admire the fireworks display from Marina Piccola.
From New Year’s Eve to Epiphany, it’s a short step. On 5 and 6 January 2024, from 4.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m., the Befana will be waiting for children at Villa Fiorentino. On January 6th, starting from Priora at 10.00 am and arriving in Piazza Tasso at 12.00 pm, there will be the show of the Bersaglieri Parade. In the evening at 7.30 p.m. at the Basilica of Sant’Antonino, the concert of Fiorenza Calogero.
To complete the entertainment offer, guided tours of the splendid Bastione di Parsano (8/10 December and from 20 December to 7 January), the puppet shows of the Mercurio Brothers in Piazza Tasso, the art of Luigi Stinga, from 9 December to 15 January in Villa Comunale, the Ceppone di Santa Lucia on 12 and 13 December, the Art Christmas in Via San Nicola, on 15 December and 7 January, the itinerant bingo, on 10 December, the Treasure Hunt from 25 to 27 December.
To close the event, on January 21, 2024, there is the award ceremony of the “The Nativity Scene Today” competition, in its forty-fourth edition.