GOING to Italy this winter is such an opportune idea. It may tend to get a little cold here but that’s just the way honeymooning couples bask amidst Christmas lights and fireworks this holiday season. Christmastime may still be two months away but one must reserve his or her plane, hotel and cruise yacht tickets if you want to squeeze going in this country during Christmas.

It’s not an easy one I tell you if you haven’t reserved early. Reserving early is part of the duties and responsibilities of a tourist. After all, it is not just fun that you must attend to. But once you have your documents arranged in proper order and you have adhered to every policy in your host country of Italy, then it will be a very smooth and annoyance-free vacation.

If you come across the Atlantic such as the United States and Canada, then you need to get a visa to get here. But if you come from another European country such as Spain or even the United Kingdom, there’s no need to have a visa because Italy is a member of the European Union just like the rest of these countries.

It is no opportune place to spend Christmas than in Italy. Even non-Catholics and non-Christians tour the country because they want to be spellbound regarding the celebratory atmosphere that has pervaded since time immemorial on the commemoration of the birth of the Messiah.

Christ may not have been born here but the fact remains that Rome and the Vatican City is the seat of Catholicism which has found its minions dominating across the globe. Some countries even have a predominant Catholic following such as France, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba.

Here in Italy, you may find cathedrals which have eerie looking designs. These are not found anywhere else across the Atlantic in the United States and Canada. There is an explanation to this though and one can fully understand it only when he or she spends a vacation in this beautiful country of Italy.

These eerie looking designs called in architectural parlance as Gothic are meant to entice the pagan inhabitants of old Italy to be converted to Christianity. Eventually, they have been converted but these cathedrals were already there so the Gothic designs remain intact.

Embarking on a vacation in Italy is not just for pleasure or self-indulgence though. One needs to take care of his or her soul first so a vacation is better experienced here if you go to mass as early as during Advent or the four Sundays preceding Christmas and nine days before Christmas Eve itself.

The entrepreneurial spirits of the Italian folk can best be manifested at this point in time because many sidewalk vendors will then line up and lure churchgoers to buy their early breakfast of hot cocoa and mini frittatas, hazelnut cinnamon rolls and iced cappuccino if you hate hot cocoa or hot tea. Then settle down for some jogging before going back to the flat or motel that you are renting. In this way, one can even save on hotel breakfast expenses here in Italy for nine mornings.