A must-visit nativity scene in Rome, at Christmas time and all year long, is that built by Rome’s Netturbini or street cleaners of AMA, the municipal waste management company. Pope John Paul visited this presepe all but the last two years of his 26-year pontificate. Other visitors have included Pope Benedict XVI, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a succession of Rome’s mayors and Italian politicians and Father Ibrahim Faltas, Custodian of the Nativity Grotto in Bethlehem.

Tucked away in an ex-storeroom on Via dei Cavalleggeri 5, a side street just minutes from St. Peter’s Square, you can easily think you are mistaken when you walk up to the building in a setting that is so unpretentious that anyone not in the know would walk right past. The entrance at number 5, in fact, is a doorway leading into a courtyard that houses an unprepossessing block of apartments with laundry hanging from balconies. The AMA Christmas site is in the center, and there are signs on nearby streets that lead the visitor to this site.

The crib scene is an extraordinary work of craftsmanship, born in 1972 when Giuseppe Ianni, then an AMA employee and now retired, suggested that AMA build its own nativity scene, such as those constructed annually by firemen, policeman, etc. The first AMA village was created in 1972 but it is actually open all year round, though Ianni always adds new features – houses, bridges, an aqueduct here and there.

Forty years ago, Ianni, then a street cleaner, said, “I will set up the most beautiful Nativity Scene in Rome and also the Pope will come and visit it.” Little did he know!

Like most traditional Roman cribs, the AMA manger scene is a fanciful representation of the town of Bethlehem, incorporating a number of Roman monuments and set within a grotto. Ianni told me on my first visit – and gave me a brochure “so you will always have the information - that the buildings are all constructed in masonry and can withstand the weight of three men.

The manger scene, which started as a little cluster of houses at the very back of the grotto, has expanded over the years as Ianni patiently added more and more elements. It consists of a hundred houses ablaze with individual lights representing hearth fires and oil lamps glowing behind doors and shutters, thanks to a complex wiring job involving 95 light bulbs set up by AMA fellow-worker Gabriele Tassotti.

This photo was taken before Christmas so Baby Jesus is not in the manger crib.

Three rivers, crossed by seven bridges, flow for a total of 28 feet through the town. Two of these feed a 50-foot-long Roman aqueduct that snakes through the heart of the composition. This aqueduct is made of marble pieces from Bernini’s colonnade of St Peter’s that were discarded when it was restored in 1999 (and it is undergoing a total restoration today as I wrote this column in 2013. A new aqueduct was added in 2008. Other marble fragments were used to build many of the 870 stone steps connecting the cobbled streets and houses.

However, one of the most fascinating parts of this particular manger scene is its concrete base. This is encrusted with over 1,400 different stones brought by pilgrims and visitors from all over the world. “Over a hundred and fifty different places are represented here,” Ianni told me on a recent visit, as he pointed out the names written beneath each little stone. “This tradition started because people wanted to donate money, but I thought that would have profaned the spirit of the crib. I told people to bring a stone instead as a goodwill gesture for peace on earth.”

If you visit, ask for Giuseppe Ianni and tell him that Joan of EWTN sent you!

HOURS:

DECEMBER 15 TO JANUARY 30: Daily8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.

FEBRUARY TO DECEMBER 14: Daily 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m.

SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS: 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Write to Joan at:
joansrome@ewtn.com 

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