In depth · Christmas & New Year
Christmas in Milan: the Duomo tree, Sant’Ambrogio and panettone
In Advent Milan lights its fashion streets and the Galleria, raises a great tree before the Duomo, and keeps its own feast, Sant’Ambrogio, on 7 December. We add the 2026 dates for the markets and events as soon as the organisers publish them.
Updated October 2026
Sant’Ambrogio and La Scala, 7 December
Milan keeps the feast of its patron saint, Sant’Ambrogio, on 7 December, and the city’s Christmas season begins with it. La Scala traditionally opens its season that evening; the programme and tickets are on teatroallascala.org. Around the feast the city also holds its traditional fair, the Oh Bej! Oh Bej!; the Comune di Milano publishes the dates and the place each year.
The tree on the Piazza del Duomo
Each Advent a great Christmas tree is raised on the Piazza del Duomo, lit against the marble façade of the cathedral. The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo publishes the cathedral’s Christmas services on its official site.
The Quadrilatero and the Galleria by night
The fashion streets of the Quadrilatero, the Via Montenapoleone and the Via della Spiga, hang garlands and lights across the street, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II dresses its octagon for the season. Walk them after dark, then stop for a hot chocolate at one of the historic pasticcerie.
La Vigilia: Christmas Eve, by the sea
In much of Italy, and above all in the south, the great meal is la Vigilia, the dinner of Christmas Eve, and by tradition it has no meat. The antipasti come from the sea: marinated anchovies, octopus salad, smoked salmon and baccalà fritto, fried salt cod.
Then a pasta: spaghetti alle vongole, with clams, garlic, olive oil and parsley, or pasta with tuna, eel or a seafood ragù. Then a whole roast fish, a sea bream or a sea bass. In the south the dish of the night is capitone, a large eel, fried or roasted.
Il pranzo di Natale: Christmas Day lunch
On Christmas Day, in the north above all, families sit down to a long lunch. In Emilia-Romagna it begins with tortellini in brodo, little hand-folded pasta filled with pork loin, prosciutto and Parmigiano, floating in a capon broth. Liguria serves its natalini in brodo; the south bakes lasagne, or in Sicily anelletti al forno, a baked timbale of ring-shaped pasta.
Then comes the bollito misto, boiled capon, beef, veal and cotechino sausage with salsa verde or mostarda, or a roast of veal, rabbit or lamb with rosemary and garlic.
Panettone, pandoro, torrone and struffoli
And then the dolci. Panettone, from Milan, is a tall domed bread, light and buttery, with raisins and candied citrus; pandoro, from Verona, is its golden, star-shaped cousin, without fruit and dusted with icing sugar. Torrone, almond and honey nougat, is the sweet of Cremona and of the south, and in Naples no Christmas passes without struffoli, little balls of fried dough glazed in honey and scattered with sprinkles and candied fruit.
Our advice: buy your panettone from a pasticceria that bakes its own; the difference is worth every euro.
Many trattorias close on 25 December, so book early; the grand hotels publish their festive menus on their own websites.
Panettone, Milan’s Christmas bread
Panettone is Milan’s gift to the Italian Christmas: a tall, domed sweet bread with candied orange, citron and raisins. From November, Marchesi 1824, Cova and Peck sell their own; see our article on Milanese cuisine.
Questions and answers
When does Christmas start in Milan?
With the feast of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan’s patron saint, on 7 December, when La Scala traditionally opens its season.
Where is the Christmas tree in Milan?
On the Piazza del Duomo, in front of the cathedral.
What do Italians eat on Christmas Eve?
La Vigilia is traditionally meatless: seafood antipasti, a pasta such as spaghetti alle vongole and a whole roast fish, with capitone, eel, in the south.
Dates for 2026 are added when the Comune di Milano, the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo and the Teatro alla Scala publish them.