In Montallegro a nativity scene that is worth a visit

As Christmas approaches, an appointment that involves adults and children returns: the tour of the nativity scenes.

Among the innumerable ones, we recall the most characteristic ones, starting from the one that is set up a Pentema, hamlet of Torriglia (Ge), where through the placement of life-size figures along the streets of the village and inside the houses, the ancient life of the village is reconstructed, with its crafts and its traditions.
Instead, not one but many are those located along the paths of the Portofino Park, especially between Portofino Vetta and Pietre Strette, made by school pupils but also made by simple visitors; the fun consists in identifying as many as possible, which last year (2021) seems to have been around ninety.
Finally, the nativity scene that is made every year in the Cinque Terre, more precisely in Manarola, which has now entered the Guinness Book of Records because it is the largest in the world, so much so that it occupies an entire hill and every night it comes to life, thanks to more than 8 kilometers of electric cables and 17,000 light bulbs.

However, there is one less known one, which deserves to be valued not only for its beauty but above all for the passion with which it was built and for the meticulous work behind it.
Let's talk about the exposed crib, which can be visited all year round, inside the Santuario di Montallegro, in the room dedicated to the ex-votos.

The crib was made by Franco Moresco, born in 1941. He was born in Chiavari but moved to Rapallo at the age of 24 where he still lives, a carpenter capable of combining incredible creativity with a great manual skill.
Franco, began to give life to the crib in his garage using all natural materials: stones and cement for the foundations and walls of the houses, tiles and slate for the roofs, wood for the fences, Plexiglas for the windows, for the lawn and the gardens he used dried shrubs and vegetables.
And the details that can be seen inside the houses are always handmade, for example the small beds that were inserted before finishing the roof of the building.
To top it all off, the street lamps were equipped with lights.

When the nativity scene reached dimensions that were too demanding for his garage, the artist thought of looking for a more suitable place to exhibit it, allowing a wider audience to visit it, rather than the little circle of friends and relatives.

Thanks to the availability of the parish priest of Montallegro at the time, this was possible, and now the work of Franco Moresco is set up inside the magnificent Sanctuary of Montallegro, on the heights of Rapallo.

We recommend the visit, you will surely be impressed.