18 Christmas Markets in Italy 2026-2027: Dates & Locations

Jump to a market: Bolzano · Merano · Trento · Bressanone · Verona · Florence · Rome · Naples · Milan · Vipiteno · Brunico · Arezzo · Montepulciano · Levico Terme · Rovereto · Turin · Aosta · Arco

Italy’s Christmas markets run from mid-November to 6 January, and this guide covers 18 of them for the 2026-2027 season, from the Alpine-style markets of South Tyrol and Trentino in Bolzano, Merano, Trento and Bressanone to the city markets of Verona, Florence and Rome and the nativity workshops of Naples. Most of the largest markets sit in the north, where the tradition arrived from the German-speaking Alps, while central and southern Italy celebrate with smaller markets, nativity scenes and the Befana on 6 January. We checked each market’s own organiser, city or tourism-office website in late October 2026 for its 2026 opening and closing dates. Where a city had not yet published its dates, we say so plainly and give the market’s usual timing and its last confirmed edition instead of guessing, and those markets are marked “not yet announced” in the table below and again in their own section.

All 18 Italian Christmas markets at a glance

The table below answers the two questions most readers ask first: when does each market run in 2026, and where in Italy is it. Markets marked “not yet announced” run every year; only the exact 2026 dates were still unpublished when we checked at the end of October 2026.

Of the 18 markets in this guide, 13 had published firm 2026 dates when we checked, 4 had not, and Naples’ Christmas Alley has no season dates because its workshops trade all year. Nine of the 18 sit in South Tyrol and Trentino, the two provinces of the Trentino-Alto Adige region, which is why a single trip along the Brenner railway can cover four or five markets. Our Italy travel guide covers the rest of the country.

Planning your Italy Christmas markets trip

Most Italian Christmas markets sit inside a walkable historic centre, so one hotel base and Italy’s rail network cover several markets on one trip. The Alpine markets line the Brenner railway between Verona and the Austrian border: Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano, Bressanone and Vipiteno all have stations on or near the line, Merano and Brunico are on branch lines, and Bolzano’s market on Piazza Walther is a few minutes’ walk from the station. Travellers already in Austria can cross the Brenner Pass by train from Innsbruck, so the Innsbruck Christmas Market pairs naturally with Vipiteno and Bressanone on one trip. Compare trains and buses across Italy and Europe on Omio to plan the connections, or check FlixBus coaches in Italy for a cheaper overnight option.

Hotels in South Tyrol fill early for the weekends of late November and December, when all five Original South Tyrolean Christmas Markets are open at once, so book a base as soon as your dates are fixed. For a place to stay near any of the markets below, search hotels in Italy here. Compare car rental prices on DiscoverCars if you want to combine Trentino’s smaller markets, such as Levico Terme and Arco, with the Tuscan hill towns of Montepulciano and Arezzo; the big-city markets in Rome, Florence, Milan and Verona are easier without a car, because their historic centres are limited-traffic zones.

The northern markets run through the coldest weeks of the year in the Alps, so pack for standing outdoors after dark: warm layers, a hat, gloves and waterproof shoes matter more than one heavy coat, since most market evenings involve walking between squares. The five South Tyrolean markets are certified green events that serve food and drink in reusable crockery, so expect a mug for your mulled wine rather than a paper cup.

We rechecked every market’s own organiser, municipal or tourism-office page in late October 2026 rather than relying on last year’s dates, and we name the source for every confirmed date in the sections below. Verona, Rome, Milan and Turin had not published 2026 dates at that point. Those cities usually announce in November, close to opening, so their entries give the last confirmed edition with its real year and the market’s usual pattern instead of a guessed date.

Weekday afternoons are quieter than weekend evenings at every market in this guide. Remember that 8 December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is a public holiday in Italy, so that long weekend brings Italian visitors to the markets as well.

1. Bolzano Christmas Market

The Bolzano Christmas Market runs from Thursday, 26 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027, according to the Bolzano tourist board (Azienda di Soggiorno e Turismo Bolzano), with the opening ceremony at 5 pm on 26 November. The market fills Piazza Walther, the main square in front of Bolzano Cathedral, and continues along Viale Stazione toward the railway station; a separate art-and-crafts Christmas market runs on Via dell’Isarco, and a charity market (Mercatino della Solidarietà) runs on Piazza del Grano from 26 November to 23 December 2026, according to the regional tourism board, IDM Südtirol.

Bolzano held Italy’s first Christmas market in 1991, after the city of Nuremberg passed on the statute of its own Christkindlesmarkt, which is why the market keeps a German-language name, Bozner Christkindlmarkt, alongside the Italian one. The tourist board’s own description lists Zelten (a fruit-and-nut Christmas bread), apple strudel, homemade biscuits, mulled wine, boiled-wool and loden clothing and decorated candles as the market’s staples. Bolzano is one of the five Original South Tyrolean Christmas Markets, together with Merano, Bressanone, Vipiteno and Brunico, and its station is the hub for reaching the other four by regional train. For the Nuremberg market that inspired it, see our Nuremberg Christmas market guide.

2. Merano Christmas Market

The Merano Christmas Market runs from Thursday, 26 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027, according to the Merano tourist office (Visit Merano), opening at 5 pm on 26 November. Its stalls line the spa promenade along the Passer river and spill onto Piazza della Rena and Piazza Terme, a few steps from the arcaded Portici shopping street, with more than 80 booths in total according to the tourist office.

Merano’s market is the most relaxed of the big South Tyrolean markets, because the promenade spreads the stalls out along the river instead of packing them into one square, and the large ice rink by the spa makes it a good pick for families. Visit Merano gives these 2026 hours: market stalls open from 10 am to 7 pm Sunday to Thursday and to 8 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays, food and drink stands stay open later, the market closes at 3.30 pm on 24 and 31 December, and it is closed on 25 December. Smaller markets in the surrounding villages, such as Lagundo, Lana and Scena Castle, run on their own dates, and the tourist office says a free Christmas train links Merano with the Lagundo market.

3. Trento Christmas Market

The Trento Christmas Market runs from Friday, 20 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027, according to the city’s official “Trento Città del Natale” site run by Visit Trentino. The wooden chalets fill two squares in the historic centre, Piazza Fiera, by the old city walls, and Piazza Mostra, beside the Buonconsiglio Castle, and the market is open every day from 10 am to 8 pm, with the food area open to 9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Trento’s market had 77 exhibitors from across Trentino-Alto Adige in its most recent published list for 2025-26, selling decorations, wooden and ceramic trees, warm clothing, natural cosmetics, chocolate, honey and cheese. Unlike most of the South Tyrolean markets, Trento’s stays open on Christmas Day, from 4 pm to 8 pm. Trento sits on the Brenner railway roughly halfway between Verona and Bolzano, so it combines easily with either city and with the smaller Trentino markets in Rovereto and Levico Terme.

4. Bressanone Christmas Market

The Bressanone Christmas Market, called Brixen in German, runs from Friday, 27 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027, according to the Brixen tourism association, with an opening event on the evening of Thursday, 26 November. The market fills Piazza Duomo (Domplatz), the cathedral square of South Tyrol’s oldest town, and 2026 is its 35th year.

The Bressanone Christmas Market focuses on regional products: the tourism association says most of the goods are made or finished in South Tyrol, from handmade candles and woodwork to natural cosmetics, homemade mulled wine, dumpling (Knödel) dishes and sweet Krapfen doughnuts. Stalls open from 11 am Monday to Thursday and from 10 am Friday to Sunday and on holidays, close at 7 pm, and are shut on 25 December. Bressanone is a short regional-train ride north of Bolzano on the Brenner line, and the same line continues north to Vipiteno and the Austrian border.

5. Verona Christmas Market

The Verona Christmas Market had not published its 2026 dates when we checked at the end of October 2026. Its most recent edition ran from Friday, 21 November to Sunday, 28 December 2025 on Piazza Bra, in front of the Roman Arena, with further stalls on Piazza dei Signori and an ice rink at the Arsenale, according to the organiser’s Natale in Piazza site, which still showed that edition. The organiser announced the 2025 dates in November, so expect a similar late-November opening and a close just after Christmas, but treat that as the usual pattern rather than a confirmed date.

Verona’s market has been organised in collaboration with Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, which explains its German-style wooden huts in a city better known for Roman ruins and Romeo and Juliet. The Arena itself is the backdrop, and the organiser describes a large Christmas star standing on Piazza Bra beside it. Verona closes earlier than the Alpine markets, usually just after Christmas, so plan Verona before 25 December if you are combining it with Trento or Bolzano, which both stay open to 6 January.

6. Florence Christmas Market

The Florence Christmas Market, a German-style Weihnachtsmarkt on Piazza Santa Croce, runs from Saturday, 14 November to Sunday, 20 December 2026, according to Feel Florence, the city’s official tourism site. Its more than fifty wooden stalls sell handicrafts, decorations and food from across Europe in front of the Basilica of Santa Croce, and the official listing gives opening hours of 10 am to 10 pm Monday to Thursday and 10 am to 11 pm Friday to Sunday, with free entry.

Florence’s market closes before Christmas, on 20 December, so it does not cover the Christmas-to-Epiphany period the Alpine markets do. Piazza Santa Croce is a short walk from the Duomo and the Uffizi, which makes the market an easy evening stop on a sightseeing day. For a second Tuscan market on the same trip, Arezzo’s Tyrolean village and Montepulciano’s Christmas village are both within reach of Florence by train or car.

7. Rome Christmas Market

The Rome Christmas Market on Piazza Navona had not announced its 2026-2027 dates when we checked; its most recent edition ran from Monday, 1 December 2025 to Tuesday, 6 January 2026, which Roma Capitale reported on at the end of the season. Rome’s market traditionally opens at the start of December and closes on 6 January, the Epiphany, so expect the same window in 2026 until the city confirms.

Piazza Navona’s market is rooted in the Italian tradition of the Befana, the old woman who brings sweets to children on the night of 5 January, rather than in the Alpine Christkindlmarkt: stalls sell toys, sweets, decorations and nativity figures around Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. Rome has no Alpine-style market on the scale of Bolzano or Trento, so treat Piazza Navona as one stop on a wider Christmas visit that includes the city’s nativity scenes and church services. Our 4-day Rome itinerary helps you fit the market around the rest of the city.

8. Naples Christmas Market

The Naples Christmas Market is not a seasonal market at all but a street: Via San Gregorio Armeno in the historic centre, known as Christmas Alley, where artisan workshops make and sell handcrafted nativity scenes (presepi) and figurines all year round. There are no season dates to check, but the street is busiest from November to early January, when the workshops add new pieces and the crowds make it slow going at weekends.

Neapolitan nativity scenes are a craft tradition rather than a simple decoration: alongside the Holy Family, the workshops sell individual figurines and the miniature buildings, lights and props that families use to build their own scene at home. Via San Gregorio Armeno runs through the UNESCO-listed historic centre of Naples, so a visit combines easily with the surrounding churches and cloisters. Because the workshops trade all year, Naples is the one entry in this guide you can visit outside the Christmas season.

9. Milan Christmas Market

The Milan Christmas fair, Oh Bej! Oh Bej!, had not published its 2026 dates when we checked; the 2025 edition ran from Friday, 5 to Monday, 8 December 2025 around the Castello Sforzesco and Parco Sempione, according to YesMilano, the city’s official tourism site. The fair is tied to 7 December, the feast of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan’s patron saint, so expect it over a few days around that date in 2026, when 7 December falls on a Monday.

Oh Bej! Oh Bej! is a street fair rather than a chalet market: YesMilano describes it as the most traditional event of Sant’Ambrogio week, held for over five centuries, with stalls selling sweets, crafts and all kinds of goods in the streets around the castle. It is short, usually four days, so it suits a Milan trip timed around the 8 December holiday. Milan’s shopping streets and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II are decorated through December, which gives the city a Christmas atmosphere outside the fair dates too.

10. Vipiteno Christmas Market

The Vipiteno Christmas Market, called Sterzing in German and branded the Sterzing Bell Christmas, runs from Friday, 27 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027, according to the Sterzing tourist office. The stalls line the old town around the Zwölferturm (Tower of Twelve), the clock tower that divides Vipiteno’s medieval main street, and they open daily from 10 am to 7 pm.

Vipiteno is the northernmost of the five Original South Tyrolean Christmas Markets and the closest to Austria, a short train ride from the Brenner Pass. Its programme follows Tyrolean custom: the tourist office lists the Tuifltog, a traditional festival with a costume parade, on 5 December, when the food stalls stay open to 10 pm, and the market stays open to 1.30 am on New Year’s Eve. Because Vipiteno is on the main Brenner railway, it is the natural first or last stop for anyone continuing to the Innsbruck Christmas Market in Austria.

11. Brunico Christmas Market

The Brunico Christmas Market, called Bruneck in German, runs from Friday, 27 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027, according to the town’s own event calendar and the South Tyrol tourism board. The market fills the Graben, the street along the old town walls, with further stalls in the Oberstadt (upper town) and on Paul-Tschurtschenthaler-Platz, and it opens daily from 10 am to 7 pm, closing at 2 pm on 24 December.

Brunico is the main town of the Puster Valley (Val Pusteria) at the foot of the Kronplatz ski area, so its market suits a ski trip as well as a market tour. It is the fifth of the Original South Tyrolean Christmas Markets and the furthest east, reached by the Puster Valley railway from Fortezza, where it branches off the Brenner line between Bressanone and Vipiteno. The tourism board describes all five original markets as certified “green events”, with reusable crockery, regional products and waste separation.

12. Arezzo Christmas Market

The Arezzo Christmas Market, the Villaggio Tirolese (Tyrolean Village) on Piazza Grande, runs from Saturday, 14 November to Sunday, 27 December 2026, according to the market’s own site. It opens Thursday to Sunday from 10 am to 9 pm until 17 December, then every day until it closes at 8 pm on 27 December. The wider “Arezzo Città del Natale” programme, with an ice rink, light projections on Piazza Grande and a Santa Claus house in the Medici Fortress, runs from 14 November 2026 to 6 January 2027, its eleventh edition, according to the programme’s official site.

Arezzo’s market brings exhibitors from Tyrol, Austria and Germany to a sloping Tuscan square better known for its antiques fair, and its food huts serve Tyrolean dishes such as pork shank, sausages, polenta, pretzels and craft beer. The organiser’s site puts Arezzo railway station less than 400 m (0.2 mi) from Piazza Grande, and Arezzo is on the main line between Florence and Rome, so a day trip from Florence is straightforward. A Christmas parade through the centre is scheduled for Sunday, 29 November 2026.

13. Montepulciano Christmas Market

The Montepulciano Christmas Market, part of “Natale a Montepulciano”, runs from Saturday, 21 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027 on selected days, according to the organiser’s official site. It opens on the weekends in November and early December, over the 5-8 December holiday, and then every day from 19 December to 6 January 2027. The market of wooden chalets sits in the hilltop town’s historic centre around Piazza Grande, alongside the Castello di Babbo Natale (Santa Claus’s Castle) for children, and entry to the market is free.

The organiser bills Montepulciano’s market as the largest in central Italy. Montepulciano is a Renaissance hill town in southern Tuscany, famous for its Vino Nobile red wine, and the Christmas village adds a wine-tasting terrace to the usual crafts and food. The town has no railway station in its centre, so a car is the easiest way to combine it with Arezzo or with Florence. Because the market is closed on several weekdays before 19 December, check the opening days on the official calendar before you drive up.

14. Levico Terme Christmas Market

The Levico Terme Christmas Market, the Mercatino di Natale Asburgico (Habsburg Christmas Market), runs from Saturday, 21 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027 on selected days, according to the organiser, the Levico Terme in Centro consortium, and the Valsugana tourism board. It opens on 21-22 and 27-29 November; on 4-8, 11-13 and 18-20 December and 24 December; and every day from 26 December to 6 January, from 10 am to 7 pm, with late opening to 8.30 pm on 5-7 December. 2026 is its 25th edition.

Levico’s market leans on the town’s history as a spa resort of the Habsburg empire, and its opening day on 21 November starts with a costumed parade of the Habsburg court at 2 pm, according to the organiser. Levico Terme sits in the Valsugana valley east of Trento, on the Trento-Bassano railway, so it combines well with a stay in Trento. Check the opening days before travelling midweek in early December, when the market is closed on several weekdays.

15. Rovereto Christmas Market

The Rovereto Christmas Market, part of the city’s “Rintocchi di Luce” (Chimes of Light) Christmas programme, runs from Friday, 20 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027, according to the official Natale a Rovereto site. The market is part of a wider Christmas village across the city centre, with light installations on the historic palazzi, an ice rink, a children’s train, monumental nativity scenes and craft and food stalls.

Rovereto’s programme draws on the city’s identity as a city of peace, home of the Campana dei Caduti, the bell cast to honour the fallen of all wars that tolls every evening above the town. The Visit Rovereto tourism site gives market hours of 10 am to 7 pm every day. Rovereto is the first stop north of Verona on the Brenner railway, so it makes an easy break in the journey between Verona and Trento.

16. Turin Christmas Market

The Turin Christmas Market had not published its 2026 dates when we checked; the city’s main Christmas village on Piazza Solferino ran from Friday, 5 December 2025 to Tuesday, 6 January 2026, with a market and an ice rink, and its organiser had not yet set the 2026 opening. Expect a similar early-December start and a 6 January close, and check before you book a trip around it.

Turin’s Christmas is better known for its Luci d’Artista, light-art installations by contemporary artists that hang over the city’s streets and squares through the winter, than for a single large market. Piazza Solferino is in the city centre, a short walk from Via Roma and Piazza Castello, so the village is easy to fit around a day of museums. Turin is a high-speed train ride from Milan, which makes it a reasonable add-on to a Milan trip around 8 December.

17. Aosta Christmas Market

The Aosta Christmas Market, the Marché Vert Noël, runs from Saturday, 21 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027 on Piazza Chanoux, according to the Aosta Valley tourism board (Lovevda). Its stalls open every day from 10 am to 8 pm, with shorter hours on 25 December and 1 January 2027.

The Marché Vert Noël is built as an Alpine village in the main square of Aosta, and the tourism board says local woodcarvers demonstrate their craft among stalls of Aosta Valley wine, cheese, sweets, antiques and handicrafts. The square’s Christmas tree carries more than 7,000 lights and 400 ornaments, according to the same source. Aosta’s Roman remains, including the Arch of Augustus and the Praetorian Gate, are a short walk from the square, and the Aosta-Pila gondola lifts skiers from town to the slopes, so the market fits a winter-sports trip in the Aosta Valley.

18. Arco Christmas Market

The Arco Christmas Market runs from Friday, 13 November 2026 to Wednesday, 6 January 2027 on selected days, according to the Garda Trentino tourism board. It opens on the weekends from 13 November, every day from 4 to 8 December, on the weekends of 11-13 December, every day from 18 December to Christmas Eve, and then daily over the holidays, generally from 10 am to 7 pm. The stalls fill the historic centre of Arco below its clifftop castle.

Arco is a small town just north of Lake Garda, known for rock climbing and its mild winter climate, and its market is the earliest to open of the 18 in this guide. The surrounding Garda Trentino area runs several smaller markets on their own dates, such as the Canale di Tenno market on 28-29 November 2026 and the Rango market on 14-15 November 2026, according to the same tourism board. Arco has no railway station; the nearest is Rovereto, so a car or bus is the practical way to reach it.

What is the best Christmas market in Italy?

Bolzano’s Christmas market on Piazza Walther is the most famous Christmas market in Italy and the oldest, first held in 1991 on the model of Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt. Trento, Merano and Bressanone are close rivals, and all four sit within an hour or so of each other by train, so most visitors to the region see two or three. For central Italy, Arezzo’s Tyrolean village and Montepulciano’s Christmas village are the largest, and Florence’s Santa Croce market is the easiest to reach.

When do Christmas markets start in Italy?

Most Italian Christmas markets start in the second half of November and close on 6 January, the Epiphany. Among the confirmed 2026 dates in this guide, Arco opens earliest, on 13 November 2026, followed by Florence and Arezzo on 14 November, Trento and Rovereto on 20 November, and the five South Tyrolean markets on 26 and 27 November. Florence closes on 20 December and Arezzo’s Tyrolean village on 27 December, while the Alpine markets in South Tyrol and Trentino stay open to 6 January 2027.

Is Rome good for Christmas markets?

Rome is good for Christmas atmosphere but not for Alpine-style Christmas markets. Its main market on Piazza Navona sells toys, sweets and Befana figures from the start of December to 6 January, but it is a traditional Roman fair rather than a chalet market like Bolzano’s. Visitors who want wooden huts, mulled wine and snow-capped mountains should head north to South Tyrol or Trentino, and combine Rome with its nativity scenes, Christmas services and the Epiphany celebrations instead.

Are there Christmas markets in Venice?

Venice has small seasonal markets rather than one large Christmas market. The main one runs in Campo Santo Stefano in the weeks before Christmas, closing on 24 December, with craft and food stalls, and small pop-up markets appear in other squares across the city. For a large Christmas market, Verona is the nearest major one, about an hour to an hour and a half from Venice by train.

How is Christmas celebrated in Italy?

Christmas in Italy centres on the nativity scene (presepe), family meals and a season that runs from 8 December to 6 January. Listed below are the main dates of the Italian Christmas season:

1. Immaculate Conception (8 December): A public holiday that traditionally marks the start of the Christmas season, when many families put up their tree and nativity scene.
2. Christmas Eve (24 December): La Vigilia, usually a meatless dinner with fish in many regions, followed by midnight Mass.
3. Christmas Day (25 December): A public holiday for family lunch; most Christmas markets close or open only for a few hours.
4. Saint Stephen’s Day (26 December): Santo Stefano, a second public holiday, when markets reopen and families visit relatives.
5. Epiphany (6 January): A public holiday when the Befana brings sweets to children, and the last day of most Christmas markets in this guide.

Which Italian Christmas markets can I combine in one trip?

The markets of South Tyrol and Trentino are the easiest to combine, because Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano, Bressanone and Vipiteno all sit on the Brenner railway, and Merano and Brunico are on branch lines from it. A long weekend based in Bolzano or Trento can realistically cover three or four markets, and Verona sits at the southern end of the same line for a city market before Christmas. In Tuscany, Florence, Arezzo and Montepulciano combine well on one trip, with a car for Montepulciano. Milan and Turin pair naturally around the 8 December holiday, when Milan’s Oh Bej! Oh Bej! fair takes place.

Do you need to pay to enter Christmas markets in Italy?

No, entry is free at every Christmas market in this guide, based on what each organiser’s or tourism office’s own page says. You can walk through the stalls and enjoy the lights without a ticket; the parts that usually cost extra are attractions such as ice rinks and children’s rides, plus the food, drinks and gifts you buy. For more surprising things about the country, see our interesting facts about Italy.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below come from checking all 18 markets against their own organiser or tourism-office pages in October 2026, and each one saves a wasted journey or a hotel booked on the wrong day.

1. Visit Florence, Verona and Arezzo before Christmas. Florence closes on 20 December 2026 and Arezzo’s Tyrolean village on 27 December, and Verona’s most recent edition closed on 28 December, while the Alpine markets in South Tyrol and Trentino stay open to 6 January 2027.
2. Check the opening days in Levico Terme, Montepulciano and Arco. These three markets open on weekends and selected days only until mid-to-late December, so a midweek visit in early December can find the chalets closed.
3. Plan around 25 December in South Tyrol. Merano, Bressanone and Brunico close on Christmas Day and shorten their hours on 24 and 31 December, while Trento opens from 4 pm to 8 pm on 25 December.
4. Use the Brenner railway instead of a car in the Alps. Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano, Bressanone and Vipiteno all sit on the line, and Bolzano’s market is a few minutes’ walk from the station, so you avoid parking in towns where the market squares are car-free.
5. Wait for November for Verona, Rome, Milan and Turin. These four cities had not published 2026 dates by late October 2026; Verona announced its 2025 dates in November, so hold off on any non-refundable booking tied to a specific weekend there.

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About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team covers Christmas markets across Europe, from Belgium and Germany to Austria and Italy. Every season, the team checks each Italian market’s own organiser or tourism office for opening and closing dates, from Bolzano and Trento in the Alps to Florence, Rome and Naples, and notes where a city has not yet published its dates. The guide also covers how to reach the markets by train on the Brenner line, where to stay in South Tyrol and Tuscany, and when a rental car makes sense, and the team updates it as soon as cities publish their 2026 dates.