THE FASCINATING SETTING

The idea is a simple one: to recreate the environment and the atmospheres of Palestine in the year zero with life-size animated characters.
And we do this in the big Etruscan cave at the end of the underground archaeological itinerary of Pozzo della Cava, in the medieval district of Orvieto, in Umbria.
Every year costumes, furnishings and elements of scenery are made as closely as possible to the originals in the time of Christ, and every year it's a new challenge, with a new layout and a new leitmotif, with a careful eye for the visitor of the Christmas Crib, who is physically inside the crib.

every year from Dec. 23 to the 1st Sunday after the Epiphany
Pozzo della Cava - Via della Cava 28 - Orvieto - Italy
phone 0039.0763.342.373 - fax 0039.0763.341.029
e-mail presepe@pozzodellacava.it

THE CHARACTERS AND THE THEMES

The realistic characters of this unusual under-ground Crib are life-size self-moving figures, made with the materials and techniques of special effects employed in the theatres and movies. And then the movements, with hidden low-tension mechanisms.

Every year our Christmas Crib follows a different theme, and every year we propose new hypotheses or important confirmations, in a philological game involving tradition and sacred texts, between history and possible new routes to be followed, always aware that sometimes the charm of a hypothesis is stronger than the pleasure of certainty.
When whe choose the themes, we know that the visitor of our Crib comes from the years two thousands: he already knows the story of the first Christmas and has already seen hundreds of different representations of the Nativity.