The Vatican will switch on the lights on its Christmas tree in St Peter's Square at 16.30 on the afternoon of Friday 7 December.
The 23m-high red fir, decorated with energy-efficient Christmas lights, hails from the province of Pordenone and was a gift from Italy's northeast Friuli region.
The tree will remain in St Peter's Square untill 7 January alongside a giant Nativity scene made from 700 tons of compacted sand from the beach of Jesolo near Venice.
Rome's Christmas tree, sponsored by Netflix, will be illuminated at 19.00 on 8 December, a national holiday to mark the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The ceremony takes place in the company of the city's mayor Virginia Raggi and the children's choir of Rome's opera house.