100 Presepi returns to Piazza San Pietro.

The 2024 edition of 100 Presepi, the Vatican's international Nativity crib exhibition, takes place under the colonnade of St Peter's Square from 8 December until 6 January 2025.

A firm fixture on Rome's Christmas calendar, each year 100 Presepi hosts Nativity scenes from across Italy and dozens of other countries.

This year's edition, which will include 125 cribs, comes as the Vatican prepares for Jubilee Year 2025 which starts officially on Christmas Eve.

The crib exhibition will be inaugurated at 16.00 on 8 December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day after the Vatican lights up its Christmas tree and Nativity Scene.

In addition to contemporary replicas of traditional 18th- and 19th-century Neapolitan and Roman cribs, there are modern versions made from wood, papier-mâché and terracotta, as well as unconventional materials such as sand, rice and metal.

One of the most unusual Nativity Scenes in the 100 Presepi display in St Peter’s Square is housed inside a Rome city bus. pic.twitter.com/lKZidy8ll6

— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) December 18, 2022

Organised by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, 100 Presepi will be open every day for free, from 10.00 until 19.30.

The display will close early on 24 and 31 December - at 17.00 - and the last admission every day  is 15 minutes before closing time.

Photo 100 Presepi