The Vatican unveiled its Nativity scene Monday, December 15, and lit the 25-metre (82-foot) Christmas tree that towers above it in St Peter's Square as a band, chorus and dancers in traditional costumes from Italy's northernmost South Tyrol province performed.

The spruce tree hailed from Italy's German-speaking majority autonomous province on the Austrian border, while the life-size Nativity scene was designed by the Nocera Inferiore-Sarno diocese in the southern Campania province, featuring architectural elements from the region.