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The tree shines high above the medieval town, Source: Albero di Natale più Grande del Mondo Facebook page
Towering above the town of Gubbio, in Italy, it can be seen 50 kilometres away
On 7 December, as per tradition, the largest Christmas tree in the world will light up and spread holiday joy far into the distance. This is actually a multi-coloured light representation of a Christmas tree laid over the slope of the Monte Ingino hill that is the towering backdrop of the Italian town of Gubbio, in the Umbria region.
Every year there is a different group of volunteers that gathers up to create the tree from scratch – it apparently takes up to 4 months to finish the job. Then there is often a special guest invited for the lighting ceremony. This winter the honour goes to Avis (the Association of Italian Blood Volunteers), in recognition of their hard work during the COVID pandemic in the past two years.
The tree is lit up on the Eve of the Immaculate Conception, and previous honorees to the ceremony have includes Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis (both doing it remotely through a tablet computer, in 2011 and 2014, respectively). Then its lights stay on until Epiphany Day, on 6 January.
The Christmas tree representation raises for more than 650 metres on the face of the hill and is made up of 3000 multi-coloured lights and 8.5 kilometres of electrical cables. It was first created in 1981, and ten years later the Guinness Book of World Records recognized it as the ‘World’s Largest Christmas Tree’ – a feat that still stays unmatched.
The lighting ceremony will take place in the area of the “Le Cerque” cycling path, in San Biagio district. This is a solution that will allow the Christmas tree town committee to host a thousand people, who will be able to enter with Green passes and masks, in compliance with regulations.
The thousand free coupons to access the ceremony area will be available at the tourist information office in Via della Repubblica and at the ChristmasLand circuit information point-ticket office in Piazza Quaranta Martiri, in front of the Ferris wheel.
The lighting ceremony will also be broadcast live on the social channels of the Albero di Gubbio.
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