The Palace becomes Bethlehem

The Palace like Bethlehem. from San Francesco to the Neapolitan crib life, warmth and spirituality to celebrate the Mystery of mysteries

PORTICOS | METROPOLITAN CITY OF NAPLES – The great tradition of the Living Nativity proposed by the Friars Minor Conventual of St. Anthony of Padua and from The Cetra Angelica Onlus.

The presence of the Friars Minor Conventual of the Franciscan Order in the Portici area has been constant since the 13th century: some sources date the foundation of the convent back to that period.

The 2022 edition of the sacred event was created in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture of the University of Naples Frederick II and the theater company cultural association The Giocondis of Saint Anastasia.

Conceived and directed by the doctor Luigi De Simone, since December 1980, in forty years the longest-lived Living Nativity in Italy, from the small Vesuvian town it has been brought to many locations in Campania and beyond. In the history of the theater company, the memory of the representation held in the Holy Land will remain indelible: Nazareth and Bethlehem, on 3 and 6 January 2017.

Many people attended to admire a crib unique in the world, the only one to represent not only moments of daily life, but also the ideal presence of the Royal Bourbons in the act of descending the staircase.

Furthermore, along the stretch that separated the convent from the Royal Chapel, there were the stands of a small but varied Christmas market.

The scenario of this extraordinary sacred representation, having abandoned the classic columns, the ruins of a pagan temple, has “adopted” that of the churchyard, the Royal Chapel and the sites of the Royal Palace, transformed into 13 wonderful animated paintings by the actors of the Anastasian Company, with the contribution of numerous volunteers enrolled in groups operating in the parish.

These are the titles of the scenes represented:

Churchyard of the Church of Sant’Antonio di Padova: Saint Francis
Royal Chapel: Annunciation
Court of the Royal Palace: Market, Tavern, Prophets, Shepherds
Staircase of Palazzo Reale, mountain sideNobles
Botanical Garden Stairs: Herod
Entrance to the Botanical Garden: Magi
Grand staircase of Palazzo Reale, sea side: The Royals and the musicians
Royal Palace Exedra: Washerwomen, Fishermen
Prairie: Nativity.

This is how the Bourbon Portici became Bethlehem, an ideal place pervaded by the angelic spirit of the poor man of Assisi.

The creation of the tenth edition of the evocative Living Nativity Scene was sponsored by the Metropolitan City of Naples and the City of Portici, and had the consent of the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan area of Naples. functional body of the Ministry of Culture.

Furthermore, it was supported by the economic support offered by the Civic Administration of the Municipality of Portici, integrated with that coming from Associations and Merchants.

The Living Nativity event took place as part of the wider Portici Reale event, an initiative against the Camorra system.

The event ended, among the emotion of all, at 21 with the last painting: the Nativity has found its place in the Prairie of the Royal Park.