From Stresa, Italy, and from West Chester, Pennsylvania, and also from New York City, where I took a short pause this past week to see those Christmas sights, Stresa Sights wishes each and every one of you the very merriest of Christmases and the very happiest of New Years.

Thank you all for stopping by Stresa Sights in 2009. Please come back again in 2010.

Giuseppe Loda made his first terracotta house when he was 8 years old. He baked it in his grandfather Paolo's kiln. Now, Loda creates nativity scenes of truly spectacular size. His latest work is over 12 meters in length, 4 meters in depth, and features over 100 statues. It is on display in Stresa in Spazio Luparia, an always fascinating little gallery located on Via Bolongaro, just off of the new Piazza Pozzi.

Loda spends an entire year working on each of the enormous presepi. He creates each piece, no matter how minute, by hand and by himself. Loda explains, "I construct all myself, the houses, the vegetation. See those houses in the Arabic style on the hill? I constructed them and also the palms. It is meant to be a homage to the immigrants of the Muslim faith. The lights that shine through the windows of those houses are the types used in their religion." There is also a homage to Stresa in this presepe; don't miss the reproduction of the little train which ran at one time to the summit of Mt. Mottarone.

As Loda learned the art of ceramics and nativity building from his 'nonno Paolo', he is hoping that the passion will again skip a generation and be picked up by his grandson, Eduardo. "To my own two sons I didn't succeed to pass it on," he says. Let's hope that six-year-old Eduardo shows an interest, as talent such as this would be a shame to lose.

The presepi season is in full swing in Stresa. And as mentioned in the last post, one of the new additions to the presepi celebration is the more than two dozen large panels that were recently painted by graffiti artists . All were painted in a short time frame as most graffiti is, but these were also painted with onlookers, as most graffiti certainly is not. And this is no ordinary graffiti. These are beautiful works of art, which are now positioned strategically in interesting places on Isola Bella and Isola Pescatore. Each piece is numbered, and viewers have the ability to vote for a favorite. The hope is that this will be the first of such events. It certainly adds yet another element to the holiday fun here in Stresa.

Let's take a walk around the island together now and look at some of these panels..

If you plan to be in Stresa during the Natale season then a not-to-be-missed attraction is the "Esposizione di Presepi Artistici." This show of presepi, nativity scenes, grows each year in size, stature, and locations. The heart of the exhibiton is on the islands of Isola Bella and Isola Pescatore, where there are more than two dozen presepi scattered around in interesting and sometimes unexpected places. Using the maps provided, it becomes a bit of a scavenger hunt to find them all, and a fantastic way to get a walk peeking into all the nooks and crannies of these islands that you might otherwise miss. And as described in last year's post, these are no ordinary presepi, but a private collection gathered from around the world.

This year, there is a new addition. And it started out as a live art performance. A group of graffiti artists gathered at Carciano recently, at the shore of the lake near the Lido Beach Club. Each was given a panel, and with spectators watching, each spray painted his version of a nativity scene. These painted panels were then moved to Isola Bella and Isola Pescatori, where they are now on display on the sides of buildings and walls.

(This is not the first time, btw, that Stresa has encouraged and organized a graffiti painting activity of this type. On a warm summer evening I watched in Piazza Cadorna as one artist painted a panel 10 meters long. His subject was a tribute to jazz. Nearby in the piazza a band played classic jazz tunes, the perfect inspiration and accompaniment for his work.)

Beginning just yesterday there are also presepi visible around Stresa itself, as many shops in the center of town and in Carciano have put presepi displays in their windows. The presepi maps are available at the Wunder Kammer shop on Isola Bella. The presepi all around town can be seen from now until the end of January 6.