The curtain rises on the Nativity. Last Dec. 22, just a few days before Christmas, the events of the cultural year "Greccio 2023" opened in Bethlehem, initiated by the Italian Ministry of Culture to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the nativity scene, created by St. Francis in 1223. Local institutions and the Custody of the Holy Land also collaborated in the creation of the exhibition. PAOLO DALLA SEGA Cultural Director International Committee Greccio 2023 "Why in Bethlehem? Because in Bethlehem everything began. It was in Bethlehem that St. Francis began to imagine the nativity scene, and when he returned to Italy, specifically to Greccio - between Assisi and Rome - he located a cave and on Christmas night in 1223 he had this new thing called the nativity scene made." The display, at the Peace Center in Bethlehem, features some of the most beautiful nativities of Italian Renaissance art. The large panels are interspersed with the puppet theaters of the Carlo Colla&Figli Company, the oldest in Italy. Almost invisible threads support the protagonists of the nativity scene. Puppetry is an ancient art. Building a puppet takes a lot of effort and work. TIZIANO MARCOLEGIO Carlo Colla&Sons Puppetry Company / Grupporiani Association "You have to start with a piece of wood and slowly with chisels carve all the pieces. Once the different pieces are made, they are assembled. Then the head will be painted and most importantly the glass eyes will be inserted. Then of course there is the step to tailoring for the costume." From Jan. 10 to 12, puppets will come to life in the show "The Bethlehem Hut," the Nativity story. With an exceptional narrator: TIZIANO MARCOLEGIO Carlo Colla&Sons Puppetry Company / Grupporiani Association "This is the latest addition to the puppet family - we are now at 4,000 pieces - and it was made precisely in function of this transition to Bethlehem. St. Francis will be the character who will tell this Nativity story." On the 30th anniversary of the twinning between Greccio and Bethlehem, "Greccio 2023" starts right from the city of the Nativity to launch an artistic and cultural journey that will see year-round exchanges and collaborations between Bethlehem and Italy. PAOLO DALLA SEGA Cultural director International Committee Greccio 2023 "Let us bring Bethlehem back to Bethlehem. Above all, a gesture, a thought of peace as is the imagination of the Nativity in a land that never has enough peace." Br IBRAHIM FALTAS, ofm Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land "Do not forget Bethlehem. St. Francis came here and when he returned, he always had Bethlehem in mind. That's why I made the nativity scene in Greccio. Everything began here! So I say to everyone: don't forget Bethlehem."