New Year’s Countdown
Piazza IX Aprile, Weednesdat 31st December 2025 from 11:00pm on
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
Christmas Concert of the
Piccolo Coro Città di Taormina
(town children’s choir)
Taormina Congress Hall, 26 December 2025 @ 7:00pm
Free entrance
It is possible to book in advance the entrance (not the seat) CLICKING HERE
Booking entitles you to priority entry starting at 6:30 pm. Everyone else enter from 6:50pm
MORE INFO
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
C H R I S T M A S I N T A O R M I N A 2 0 2 5/2026
Living Presepe – Living Nativity Scene
… e la Luce brillò… Venite e vedete!
21st edition
From December 26th 2025 to January 6th 2026
Parrocchia Sacro Cuore di Gesù –Trappitello, Taormina (ME)
Free Entrance
During Christmas time in Italy, you are bound to come across cribs in homes and piazzas all over the country. Many cities also have a living crib, or a living nativity scene. It is thought that St. Francis hosted the first living nativity scene in 1223, sparking a tradition that continues in Italy to this day. Beginning on Christmas day, and running until January 6th, towns throughout Italy hold pageants to re-act the night of Jesus’ birth. Actors portray Mary, Joseph, the three Magi and other biblical figures from the gospel.
In Trappitello, peripherical area of Taormina, every year in Chrismas time, a Living Crib with more than 200 “actors” and “walk-ons” is organised. It is one of the most appreciated living cribs of Sicily counting 22.000/25.000 people visiting the event every year.
The location set is the huge garden of the old small church of Santa Venera with impressive old buildings such as an oil mill, a millstone, a mallet and a windmill. While in a secluded and evocative place the Capanna della Natività is located, where the Holy Child is welcomed and warmed by the love of his parents, Maria and Giuseppe, and by a docile ox and a tender donkey.
In fact there are many and various animals “working” as extras in the crib – among which a majestic camel stands out.
On January 6th, according to tradition, the Three Wise Men (the Three Kings) will enter “Bethlehem”, bringing their gifts to Baby Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
At the exit of the Living Nativity there is the possibility to visit the ancient Church of S. Venera, admire a rich exhibition of Holy Jesus and taste typical products of our tradition.
Opening hours
– 26 December – 5.00 pm / 8.30 pm
– 27 Dicembre – 5.30 pm / 8.30 pm
– 28 Dicembre – 5.30 pm / 8.30 pm
– 30 Dicembre – 5.30 pm / 8.30 pm
– 1 January – 6.00 pm / 8.30 pm
– 3 January – 5.30 pm / 8.30 pm
– 4 January – 10:30 / 12:30 and 4.00 pm / 7.30 pm
– 5 January – 5.30pm /8.30pm
– 6 January – 5.00pm / 8.30 pm
MORE INFO
How to get there: Motorway A18 Messina/Catania, exit Taormina, Direction SS. 185 (statal road, blu sign), 500 metres from the motorway exit.
More info: T. +39 0942/50210 – M. +39 339/8320324 and +39 379/2077738 – presepetrappitello@gmail.com
FB: www.facebook.com/presepetrappitello
#presepetrappitello
VIDEO — > www.facebook.com/loturcogiuseppe/videos/1566035891202360?idorvanity=87652353731
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
The Olympic Flame arrives in Taormina
Porta Catania (the South Gate), 19 December 2025 @ 12:30
The XXV Winter Olympic Games commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026 – is scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 at sites across Lombardy and Northeast Italy.
The Olympic torch relay started on 26 November 2025 with the flame lighting in Olympia, Greece. Then it flewed to Rome and it will be visiting all 110 provinces of Italy, making 60 stops over 63 days across 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi) and involving 10,001 torchbearers.
MORE INFO
www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
C H R I S T M A S I N T A O R M I N A
2 0 2 5/2026
Christmas Holidays in Taormina
from November 2025 to January 2026
November 22 / January 6 > Exhibition – Palazzo Duchi di Santo Stefano
November 23 > Christmas lights switching on – Piazza IX Aprile @ 8:00pm
November 25 > Barbara Arcadi in concert – Congress Hall @ 8:00pm
November 29 > Silvia Mezzanotte in concert – Congress Hall @ 8:00pm
December 5 > Musical Fairy Tale “The Nutcracker” – Congress Hall @ 6:00pm
December 6 > Christmas Tree lighining on – Mazzeo (coastal fraction of Taormina) @ 7:00pm
December 7 > Christmas Tree lighining on – Trappitello @ 7:00pm
December 8 > Christmas Tree lighining on – Piazza IX Aprile (town centre) @ 7:00pm
December 8 > “Christmas Swing Show” by the Mikely Family Band – Congress Hall @ 9:00pm
December 12 > “I Civitoti in Pretura” – Congress Hall @ 7:00pm
December 13 > “I Civitoti in Pretura” – Congress Hall @ 7:00pm
December 13 > Candle Music Concert – Church Sacro Cuore di Gesù (Trappitello) @ 7:30pm
December 14 > Lights, music and video mapping show – Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (Piazza Badia) @ 7:00pm
December 19 > Christmas Concert by the students of the Taormina Schools – Congress Hall @ 7:00pm
December 19 > Lightening of the Christmas Bonfire – Mastrissa (fraction of Taormina) @ 8:00pm
December 20 > Christmas for UNICEF – Congress Hall @ 6:30pm
December 21 > Santa Claus is coming – Piazza IX Aprile from 4:00pm on
December 21 > Michele Placido in concert – Congress Hall @ 8:00pm
December 22 > Santa Claus is coming and Aladin musical – Mazzeo (coastal fraction of Taormina) from 4:00pm on
December 23 > Santa Claus is coming – Trappitello from 4:00pm on
December 23 > Vincenzo Bellini Orchestra – Congress Hall @ 7:00pm
December 24> Lightening of the Christmas Bonfires – @ 10:30pm
December 25 > “Rives & the Unlimited Praise Gospel Singers” – Cathedral @ 7:30pm
December 26 > Christmas Concert of the Taormina Piccolo Coro (children’s choir) – Congress Hall @ 7:00pm
December 29 > “Beauty and the Beast”, the Musical – Trappitello @ 4:00pm
December 29 > Candle Music Concert – Congress Hall @ 19:00
December 30 > “Oceania”, the musical – Congress Hall @ 4:00pm
December 31 > New Years’ Eve in Piazza IX Aprile from 11:00pm
January 1 > 47° Tuffo a Mare e Corsa – Villagonia (coastal fraction of Taormina) @ 10:30pm
January 1 > New Year’s Concert by the Taormina Plectrum Orchestra – Congress Hall @ 7:00pm
January 1 > Toast with the Mayor of Taormina – Piazza IX Aprile @8:00pm
January 2 > New Year’s Concert by the Taormina Plectrum Orchestra – Church Sacro Cuore di Gesù (Trappitello) @ 7:30pm
January 3 > White Circus – Trappitello @ 4:00pm
January 4 > Harry Potter – Mazzeo (coastal fraction of Taormina) @4:00pm
January 6 > The Befana is coming – Trappitello @12.00
January 6 > White Circus – Piazza IX Aprile @ 4:00pm
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
Rally of Taormina
October 17/19, 2025 in taormina and surrounding areas
More info ASAP
MORE INFO
Rally di Taormina -> www.rallyditaormina.it – info@newturbomark.com
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
Spritz-ziamo Musica!
Casa del Cinema (C.so Umberto n. 61), every Friday of October 2025 @ 7:00pm
An aperitiv will follow each concert
TICKETS on boxol.it
Box office (on event’s day): Casa del Cinema
Friday 10
PIANO RECITAL
Nicolò Cafaro
music by Bellini, Respighi, Ravel, Puccini, Chopin
Friday 17
OPERA TOUR
Mrija Jelic – sopran
Davide Dellisanti – piano
music by Verdi, Puccini et. al.
Friday 24
TRIO QUIRÓS
Francesca Adamo Sollima – Sopran
Mauro Schembri – mandolin
Fernando Mangifesta – Accordion
music by Piazzolla, Angulo, Bernstein, Sollima et al.
Friday 31
DUO MELOS
Vito Paternoster – violoncello
Pierluigi Camicia – piano
Music by Frontini, Verdi, Sollima
MORE INFO
Fondazione Taormina Arte – info@taormina-arte.com – 391 7462 146
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
T A O R M I N A O P E R A F E S T I V A L
Oh Sole Mio!
The Great Neapolitan Song
Ancient Theatre, Sunday 5th October 2025 @9:00pm
Taormina celebrates the 150° anniversary of Ernesto De Curtis’ birth.
Ernesto De Curtis (Naples, 4 October 1875 – 31 December 1937) was an Italian composer.
He was a great-grandson of composer Saverio Mercadante and the brother of poet Giambattista De Curtis, with whom he wrote the song “Torna a Surriento” (Come back to Sorrentp), his masterpiece.
The most beautiful and beloved songs of the great Neapolitan melodic tradition such as “Tu si’ na cosa grande” a “Funiculì Funiculà”, da “Dicitencello vuje” a “O sole mio”, “Core ‘ngrato”, “O mare e tu”, “A vucchella”, “Santa Lucia”, “Io te vurria vasà”, “Marruzzella”, “Voce e notte”, “Ammore annascunnuto”, “Torna a Surriento”
Stefano Sorrentino: tenor
Lucia Mastromarino: mezzo soprano
Ensemble Strumentale Napoletano Marechiare
TICKETS on vivaticket (fees not included)
Parterre / Stalls / Platea: € 90,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 80,00
Gallery, sector A-E (very lateral): € 50,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 40,00
Gallery, sector B-D (lateral): € 60,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 50,00
Gallery, sector C (central): € 80,00/ Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 70,00
Cavea, central, numbered seats: € 40,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 30,00
Cavea, lateral, non-numbered seats: € 25,00
MORE INFO
Ensemble Taormina Opera Festival > www.taorminaoperafestival.org
Stefano Sorrentino > www.facebook.com/stefano.sorrentino.731
Lucia Mastromarino > www.facebook.com/lucia.mastromarino.9
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
O P E R A S E L E C T I O N
by Italian Opera Taormina
Tosca
an Opera by Giacomo Puccini
Teatro Nazarena of Taormina on Sunday 5th October 2025 @9:15pm
An exclusive format with a selection of the most famous opera arias, performed by internationally acclaimed artists and accompanied by the piano.
This special performance will feature professional opera singers in full costume, accompanied live on piano, offering a powerful and intimate interpretation of one of the most passionate works in the italian operatic tradition.
A remarkable cast will perform one of Puccini’s most beloved masterpieces:
Flora Tosca – Marianna Cappellani
Cavaradossi – Moisés Molin
Scarpia – Graziano D’Urso
Silvia Di Falco – art director
Clara Intilisano – assistant to art director
Piano – Maestro Antonio Gennaro
Set in 19th-century Rome during a time of political turmoil, Tosca follows the doomed love between opera singer Floria Tosca and revolutionary artist Mario Cavaradossi. Their romance is threatened by the cruel and manipulative police chief Baron Scarpia, whose lust for Tosca sets a tragic chain of events in motion. The opera builds to an unforgettable climax, featuring some of Puccini’s most iconic arias, including “Vissi d’arte,” “Recondita armonia,” and “E lucevan le stelle.
TICKETS
Ask your Hotel or click HERE
🥂 €50 – includes a drink during the intermission | Entry at 8:45 PM, unassigned seating
👶 Free entry for children up to 6 years old
MORE INFO
Italian Opera Taormina > www.italianoperataormina.com – Phone:+39 340 642 62 30 – info@italianoperataormina.com
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
Source: taorminaoperafestival.org
Bolero! International Dance Gala
Taormina Ancient Theater, Friday 3rd October 2025 @9:00pm
Famous choreographies danced by international stars
Choreographies by Maurice Bejart
TICKETS on vivaticket (fees not included)
Parterre/Stalls: € 80,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 75,00
Gallery, sector A-E (very lateral): € 40,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 35,00
Gallery, sector B-D (lateral): € 50,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 45,00
Gallery, sector C (central): € 70,00/ Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 60,00
Cavea, central, numbered seats: € 30,00 / Reduced (under 25 and over 70): € 25,00
Cavea, lateral, non-numbered seats: € 20,00
MORE INFO
Event organised by Associazione Tauros
Ensemble Taormina Opera Festival > www.taorminaoperafestival.org
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta
