Presepe d'InCanto in Petralia Soprana

The Presepe d’InCanto is an immersive nativity scene set up every Christmas in Petralia Soprana, in the Aula Polifunzionale on Corso Umberto I, the former church of Sant’Antonio. Instead of figurines there are sculptures and video mapping: light, images and a narrator tell the story of the Nativity in a 30-minute route. It’s open from around 20 December to 6 January, on set days, from 4 pm to 8 pm, with a 5-euro ticket and booking. The 2026 dates haven’t been released yet.

When is it open?

The nativity isn’t open every day of the holidays. In the 2025-2026 edition, the 17th, the calendar was as follows, with slots every half hour from 4 pm to 8 pm (official website):

Month	Opening days
December 2025	20 (opening at 4 pm), 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31
January 2026	1, 3, 4, 6

In 2024-2025 the 16th edition ran from 21 December to 6 January, according to VisitSicily.

Tickets and booking

Prices for the 2025-2026 edition:

Ticket	Price
Full price, age 13+	5 euros
Reduced, ages 8-12	3 euros
Groups of at least 15	4 euros each
Children up to 7	free

Book on the Presepe d’InCanto website or by phone on +39 349 545 5876. Groups of at least 15 can ask to visit on days and at times outside the calendar.

How it’s made

The Presepe d’InCanto was born in 2008 from an idea by Leonardo Bruno and Father Calogero La Placa. It’s an installation: shapes and sculptures inspired by the tradition of Giacomo Serpotta and made by Pier Luca Trapani become scenes of the Nativity through video mapping, which projects images and animations onto the surfaces. The organisers present it as the first immersive nativity made with artificial intelligence and augmented reality too.

It’s teamwork: artistic direction and video art by Leonardo Bruno, sets by Santino Alleri, photography and graphics by Damiano Macaluso, texts and narration by Santi Cicardo, co-director (Balarm). It is organised by the Associazione Cittadinanza Attiva Petralia Soprana, with the patronage of the town council and the Sicilian Region.

The tone is quiet. “It’s an invitation to slow down,” says Bruno: the technology is there but makes no noise, and the projections are meant to reveal, not to dazzle.

Christmas in Petralia Soprana

Around the nativity the town council runs the “Natale a Petralia Soprana” programme: in 2025 it included the “Concerto sotto l’Albero” by the “G. Verdi” band on 23 December, bagpipers, children’s workshops, Father Christmas on a sleigh and “Arriva la Befana”. For the rest of the town there’s the Petralia Soprana page.

Practical tips

Petralia Soprana sits at 1,147 metres, the highest of the villages in our guide. In December, at this altitude, it can snow: check the Petralia Soprana weather and, if it snows, the page on snow in the Madonie. From Palermo it’s about 103 km and an hour and a half, via the Tremonzelli exit on the A19 and then the SS120 (see getting to the Madonie by car). In winter 2025-2026 the ANAS order required snow chains on board or winter tyres on a stretch of the SS120 from 15 November: the current rule is in our roads guide.

For a bed, see where to stay in Petralia Soprana; for food, where to eat in Petralia Soprana. On the same days, usually from 26 to 29 December, Gangi stages its living nativity. Other nativity scenes and feasts are under Madonie religious festivals.