La Befana

January 6, 2012 by Gretta Schifano Leave a Comment

Today is a holiday in Italy for the Feast of the Epiphany, and La Befana plays a big part in the celebrations. We were in Piedmont for New Year, and saw images of friendly witches alongside more familiar Christmas decorations all over the place. Our Italian friends explained that children leave out stockings before they go to bed on January 5^th. When they wake up the next morning, La Befana has visited on her broomstick and filled the stockings with treats or coal, depending on the children’s behaviour during the year.

I'm a freelance journalist and blogger specialising in family travel with teenagers, trips when parents manage to travel without their kids, and 50+ travel. I also write about vegetarian travel, parenting teenagers, adoption, SEN, ADHD and anxiety. My work's been published by the Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, National Geographic Traveller, Lonely Planet and others. I've lived and worked in Italy and Spain and am now based in rural south-east England with my husband, adoptive and birth kids and our dog. I previously worked as a social action radio producer for the BBC.

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