Christmas in Italy

I've been missing Christmas in Italy, so I thought I'd see if YouTube had any zampognari. Sure enough! These shepherds come down from the Abruzzi mountains and play in the streets of our town. One time they even came right in to the foyer of our apartment building. The reverberations off the marble floor, stairs and plaster walls was deafening! As in Scotland, they are better heard in the open air.

This video is taken Christmas Day it looks like. It's pretty dark, but very realistic. Our kids will identify. It looks like Maranola, although it isn't. Maranola had a live presepe that we visited several times, the whole town was transformed in to the 18th century with Mary and Joseph and their animals and baby Jesus at the center and top of the village (It was on a mountain.)

The song they're playing is Tu Scendi dalla Stelle. Ah, Gaeta friends, it brings back such great memories!