Food on a table in two large pans for a Christmas Eve dinner in Italy. Decorative plates are set and a child's arm sits next to one of the plates.
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Traditional Italian Christmas Eve Dinner – Our Family’s Tradition In Tuscany

Last updated on November 1st, 2024

Whether you have Italian roots and are looking to make a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner for the first time or are visiting Italy for the holidays and wondering what the locals are doing – you’re in the right place!

I’d like to share what a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner looks like for my Italian family based in Tuscany. I’ll cover:

  • Italian Christmas Eve traditions
  • Italian Christmas Eve dinner menu
  • Hosting an  Italian Christmas Eve dinner

Making a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner is straightforward and is a lot of fun if you follow my guidelines outlined below.

Christmas Eve in Italy is, for many families, even more important than Christmas Day itself. It’s a time for gratitude, prayer and of course, good Christmas food surrounded by friends and family. So let’s take a closer look at exactly what these traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner foods are and other holiday traditions celebrated on Vigilia in Italia (Christmas Eve in Italy)! 

Keep in mind that just like many other Italian food traditions, An Italian Christmas Eve dinner will differ dramatically across the Italian peninsula. I will include a selection of traditions and foods that you will see from north to south. If you are the person in charge of cooking this holiday season, choose based on your family’s food preferences and what you feel most confident making.

Italian Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas stockings on a white marble surface.
We save our stockings for La Befana in January

While Christmas Day may be the highlight for many cultures, Christmas Eve in Italy is an essential and cherished part of the holiday season, if not even more important than Christmas day itself. 

On Christmas Eve in Italy, Italian families will typically:

  • spend the day with family 
  • take a walk in town or go to their town’s piazza or square to visit the Christmas tree
  • Cook in company
  • Eat a large multi-course Italian Christmas Eve dinner
  • Attend late night mass

The reason for La Vigilia (Christmas Eve) being more important than Christmas Day in Italy is rooted in Catholicism. Today, this isn’t necessarily true for Italy as a whole, but for many practicing Catholics in Italy, it is. 

If so, you can be sure they are eating a 13-course Italian Christmas Eve dinner symbolizing the 12 apostles and Jesus and attending midnight mass.

My Italian husband’s family does attend a midnight mass but does not cook a 13-course meal. We do have a family meal with multiple courses to celebrate but it’s not symbolic as it is for many other Italian families (especially of older generations).  

Our traditional Italian Christmas Eve Dinner is fish-based while Christmas lunch is meat-based, similar to most other Italian families across all 20 regions. The seafood tradition stems from the 24th being il giorno di magro, which translates to ‘the day of the lean.’  Historically, this meant no meat at all or complete fasting but today, it embodies a no red meat or poultry mindset. 

Fact: The “The Feast of The Seven Fishes”, a fish dinner celebrated in the USA on Christmas Eve is actually an Italo-American tradition. Many Italians don’t even know about it!

Italian Christmas Eve Dinner Menu 

While most Italian families don’t sit down for 13 courses anymore, you can be sure the meal is going to be long, making it easy to make it to midnight mass without falling asleep beforehand. 

Aperitivo On Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

side view of a short old-fashiond glass filled with dark red americano cocktail with ice and garnished with an orange peel on a stone ledge with greenery and blue sky in background.

A typical Italian Christmas Eve Dinner will usually start with drinks for aperitivo around 6:30 or 7:00 pm. This is when prosecco or another light cocktail is served with small snacks and nibbles before the main event. 

A typical aperitivo might include:

Fact: An Italian aperitivo is never served without something small to eat. Consider olives, Italian crackers, chips, nuts or a bit of cheese. It doesn’t have to be a lot; actually, it should be light and not fill you up! 

Drinks At Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

At an Italian Christmas Eve dinner, both red and white wine is served (although more likely to be white as fish is the star here) along with flat and sparkling water

After the dessert, coffee, in the form of an espresso, is served and perhaps followed by an Italian digestivo or after dinner drink. 

Toasting On Christmas Eve: Be sure to toast on your Italian Christmas Eve dinner! This may happen initially when everyone first sits down or can be reserved for the main course.

Antipasti (Appetizers) On Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

Scallops in shells at the Rialto Market in Venice, Italy.

After drinks, families will come together around the table and start with small appetizers, usually made from fish. If you are hosting, choose several items to serve:

  • Crostini con salmone affumicato –  white bread with smoked salmon, butter and capers. 
  • Baccalà Mantecato – creamy whipped cod spread on crostini or pan fried polenta squares (Venice)
  • Insalata di mare – cold seafood salad with a mix of shrimp, calamari, and mussels dressed in olive oil and lemon.
  • Crostini/polenta ai gamberi – rounds of bread or pan fried polenta with shrimp
  • Insalata di polpo e patate – cold octopus and potato salad
  • Alici marinate – marinated anchovies (southern Italy)
  • Caposanti ripieni – stuffed scallops
  • Fritto misto – fried foods including vegetables, potato croquettes and calamari 
  • Cozze alla marinara – Mussels cooked in tomato sauce or white wine sauce (this may also be served as a main course depending on the family tradition) 

Primo (First Course) On Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

top view of spaghetti on a white plate with clams in pasta with hand sticking with a fork in it.
Spaghetti alle vongole

The first course served at an Italian Christmas Eve dinner is going to be a starch, typically risotto, soup or pasta served in a fish sauce. If you are hosting, choose one:

  • Spaghetti alle vongole – spaghetti with clam sauce
  • Linguine/risotto al nero di seppia – spaghetti or risotto with ink squid
  • Paccheri allo scoglio – pasta with mixed seafood such as muscles, clams and calamari
  • Risotto alla marinara – mixed seafood risotto
  • Zuppa della Vigilia di Natale – a vegetarian soup made with chickpeas and chestnuts (Umbria)
  • Minestra di pesce – fish-based soup (Rome)
  • Malloreddus –  small semolina gnocchi usually served in a tune and cherry tomato sauce (Sarindia)
  • Tagliolini all’Astice – Thin ribbon egg pasta dressed in a tomato based lobster sauce
  • Pasta con le Sarde – pasta with sardines, fennel pine nuts and raisins (Calabria and Sicily)

Tip: Usually, pasta is easier to make than risotto as it’s not as labor intensive and is more forgiving. 

Important: If you are cooking the first course, be sure you are using the best Italian pasta and cooking it correctly, meaning al dente.

Secondo (Main Course) On Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

You will likely see one main fish course served at an Italian Christmas Eve Dinner. Regional traditions are based on what can be sourced and fished locally. 

  • Baccalà fritto – fried cod
  • Baccalà Mantecato – whipped salted cod served as a main instead of an appetizer (Venice)
  • Baccalà all Livornese – salted cod stewed with tomatoes (Tuscany)
  • Orata/Spigola al forno – oven roasted sea bream/bass
  • Calamari ripieni – stuffed calamari
  • Gamberi alla griglia – grilled prawns
  • Branzino al sale – sea bass baked in a salt crust
  • Salmone al cartoccio – salmon baked in parchment paper (it could also be another fish)
  • Capitone in umido – stewed eel 
  • Polpo/moscardini alla Luciana – octopus or small baby octopus stewed with tomatoes, olives, capers, and garlic
  • Seppie in umido – cuttlefish stewed in a tomato sauce 
  • Fritto misto di mare – mixed fried seafood (may also be served as an appetizer)

Contorni (Side Dishes) On Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

Many of the side dishes served with the main fish course at an Italian Christmas Eve dinner are already cooked with the main (such as when a fish is roasted in the oven, baked in foil or grilled). In these cases, mixed vegetables and potatoes are seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked alongside the fish.

For other dishes such as stewed fishes, sides may be: 

  • Polenta – slow cooked ground cornmeal
  • Spinaci/rape saltati – sauteed spinach or turnip greens
  • Carciofi – fried or pan sauteed artichokes
  • Verdure fritte – fried mixed vegetables 
  • Verdure alla griglia – grilled mixed vegetables

Dolci (Desserts) On Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

Plates of pandoro with mascarpone cream on top.
Pandoro at our house on Christmas Eve

Desserts at Christmas Eve dinner vary considerably by region, but there are a few sweet treats that are enjoyed across all of Italy, no matter where you are:

  • Pandoro – a sweet brioche cake from Verona dusted with powdered sugar (be sure to serve it like this)
  • Panettone – a sweet brioche cake studded with candied fruit and raisins from Milan (slice correctly and serve with mascarpone cream)
  • Torrone – Italian nougat with different nuts 
  • FruttaItalian fruit likely to be seasonal citrus like mandarins, clementines and oranges from Sicily
  • Frutta Secca – Italian nuts served in their shell to be cracked open served with dried figs and dates

Coffee and Digestif On Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

Green espresso cup full of coffee.

After all that food, Italians love an espresso or caffè made with a Moka pot. Coffee is served with a splash of milk, known as a caffè macchiato and/or a spoonful of sugar. 

And lastly, any celebratory Italian meal ends with a digestif or a small sip of amaro or other sweet or bitter liqueur to aid in digestion (or so they say!)

Popular Italian digestivi served to close an Italian Christmas Eve dinner are:

  • limoncello – lemon liqueur 
  • grappa – made from grape pomace
  • amaro – bitter liqueur
  • sambuca – anise based liqueur from Lazio and Campania
  • mirto – myrtle herbal liqueur from Sardinia 

Alternatively, you can enjoy coffee and a digestif together, known as a caffè corretto.

And now, you can all roll on down to midnight mass! Historically, some Italian families wait to clear the table until after returning from mass, to pay their respects to Jesus Christ. 

Hosting A Traditional Italian Christmas Eve Dinner

In some ways, hosting a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner is easier than a Christmas lunch because you have days to prep and prepare but generally speaking, fish dishes and meals are harder to prepare than meat-based dishes (in my experience). 

Keep these tips in mind when hosting a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner:

  • Order specialty Italian items and all fish well in advance and be sure to confirm your pickup time from your favorite grocery store or fishmonger.
  • Choose and chill wine in advance.
  • Select serving dishes and decide what each is being used for (this is important when everything is simultaneously hitting the table at once)
  • Set the table and prepare a buffet/aperitivo table in advance.
  • Gut all fish and do as much prep in terms of chopping vegetables beforehand. Fish stews can be cooked beforehand and gently reheated (undercook the fish initially so it doesn’t get overcooked upon reheating).
  • Make side dishes ahead of time and reheat. 
  • Try not to stress over the time between courses. This additional time is essential for preparing the next dish and gives your guests a chance to unwind and anticipate what’s to come.
  • Buy a store bought panettone or pandoro – don’t try to make them. They are extremely labor intensive. 

And that’s a wrap at the dinner table! At my Italian family’s house, we always play tombola, or bingo to conclude our meal, which is usually around 5:30 or so. This goes on for about an hour and then we call it a night!

Learn More about Italian Christmas:
Traditional Christmas Foods in Italy
Italian Christmas Day Meal – What We Eat for Lunch or Dinner
Traditional Italian Christmas Eve Dinner
Italian Christmas Cookies to Try
Italian Desserts to Serve at Christmas Dinner
Pandoro vs Panettone – An Italian Christmas Cake Showdown
How to Cut Pandoro and How to Cut Panettone
Foods to Eat in Italy in December
My Gift Guides (Perfect for the Holidays)
Italian Food Stocking Stuffers
Christmas Gifts for Chefs
The Christmas Market in Montepulciano
Sweet Treats Italian Kids Get From The Befana