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Christmas Eve in Italy
In much of Italy, Christmas Eve (la vigilia di Natale) is traditionally a meatless meal — the cena di magro — and in coastal cities like Trieste that means fish: baccalà (salt cod), calamari, and many local variants, followed by sweets. Christmas Day brings the larger meat meal, and December 26, Santo Stefano, is also a public holiday, which is why Maja's family can sleep until noon. Trieste's Christmas tables mix Italian, Austrian and Slavic traditions; the presnitz and the putizza, rich pastries filled with nuts and dried fruit, are characteristic of the city. Family meals are long, crowded and multi-generational, and inviting someone outside the family is a sign of real closeness — Tommaso's warning that Alex will be 'interrogated' is a family joke with some truth in it. Gifts are often modest and personal; a first edition with a handwritten dedication is about as meaningful a present as an author can give. Grammatically, this dinner is full of superlatives. After il più …, l'unico and il primo, careful Italian uses the congiuntivo in the relative clause — il regalo più bello che abbia mai ricevuto — because the clause expresses a personal judgment, not a neutral fact.