Natale in Lecce
How To Celebrate Christmas in Lecce
December 2008

1)Take a stroll before dinner. Choose your company wisely. Family is good. As are old friends.
Start at Santa Croce, the prettiest church in the entire south of Italy.

2) Walk past the enormous star the over the amphitheater.
Notice how bright it is, enough for a thousand people to read a newspaper after night fall.

3) Walk under the countless giant snowflakes that transform the blonde stone of Lecce into a warm burning orange. Window shop a bit. Notice the stunning reflections in the giant window panes, like fireworks over a lake.

4) Feel drawn to the main piazza, without any of you ever actually ever even mentioning that that is the destination.

5) Enter Piazza Sant' Oronzo. See how that this year the lights are digital wands, the LEDs that stream down the bands just like falling snow. The effect is stunning. Hear older women gasp at them while children spin and reel underneath.

6) Continue on and turn the corner at catch a glimpse of Sant Oranzo again.
Hear Puccini float out of a shop. Hum a few bars if the spirit moves you.

7) Try to not mention anything poetic when you catch teenagers stealing kisses under the star bright enough to light up the night sky. Remember when it was your turn, and what those kisses meant to you.
Head home and drop your coats on the couch.

8) Heat your biggest pot over your hottest flame and wait five minutes. Add a head of garlic, loosened from the skins, some good olive oil and your largest shellfish first. Scampi are traditional. Give them a minute and then add your clams. Another minute and then mussels. Throw in some chili peppers and a bottle of white wine.
It's going to hiss and spit, so be ready for that. Add the lid and give it two minutes.

Remove the lid and add your cubed fish and tomatoes, cut into tiny flecks. Add your squid, octopus and cuttle fish. Toss in a handful of parsley and dinner is ready.

Open some dry pink wine, such as a famous rosato del Salento. Enjoy your 7 fishes. Christmas only comes once a year.

Merry Christmas from me and my staff here in Lecce, Italy.

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Fotografie e testo, Silvestro Silvestori, Novembre, Lecce, Italia.