Christmas: Italians are crazy about the markets
THE Christmas markets they are the most popular autumn destination for Italians for a trip out of town. With 30% of preferences, they surpass trips to art cities (27.5%), holidays in the mountains (21.8%), farm holidays in the countryside (12%) and exotic destinations abroad (8, 6%). This is what emerges from a study carried out by AstraRicerche on behalf of ‘Magical Christmas village’an event spread across the Langhe, Monferrato and Roero area, which involved a sample of 1,005 people aged between 18 and 74.
In particular, almost all of the sample (94%) visited a market at least once and 60% even went there several times. Among the reasons given we find the desire to enjoy the festive atmosphere (62%), the possibility of tasting food and wine specialties (49%), the opportunity to purchase artisanal products (34%) and, to a lesser extent, meeting small producers of food and objects (17%). The shopping in the markets would be driven, first and foremost, by the craftsmanship of the products offered (42.1%), by their exclusivity (21.3%), by the desire to support small local producers (20.4%) and by convenience (12.5% ).
In general, helping to make a walk through the Christmas markets a unique experience would be the presence of light installations (32%), thefood and wine experience, made up of wine and local product tastings (30%), and, for the little ones, musicals, entertainment and Christmas-themed shows (22%). However, guided tours (10%) and amusement parks (6%) are less popular. Furthermore, essential factors for creating the right Christmas atmosphere are the presence of elves and of Santa Claus (49%), local cultural references (35%) and, finally, the cold (29%) which refers to the mountains, snow and woods.
