Grande Presepe Meccanico di Montegrosso d'Asti

Why it's special

The moving crib is twenty metres long, made by local volunteers, and stays on view for almost two months, long after most Christmas displays have gone. Local associations and families bring their own presepi to show alongside it, and the best get a prize in January.

Programme · 2025

The Gruppo Giovani Vallumida's 20-metre mechanical crib and an exhibition of nativity scenes at the parish of Santo Stefano, with the patronage of the Comune di Montegrosso d'Asti. Open every day, 9:00–17:00.

• Open every day: 9:00–17:00 in 2025–26 and 9:00–18:00 the year before.
• Entry is by free offering; in 2024–25 the offerings went to the diocese's 'Fratelli tutti' clinic, which gives free healthcare to people who can't afford it.
• To show your own crib, contact the organisers before 7 December (347 253 5771).

Each Christmas the volunteers of the Gruppo Giovani Vallumida, a youth group from the Vallumida area of Montegrosso d'Asti, set up a mechanical nativity scene twenty metres long at the parish of Santo Stefano. The figures move, and it stays open every day from the 8 December holiday to the end of January.

Around it stand many smaller presepi, made by local associations and families who sign up to show their own. In January the best of them get a prize. It's free, with an offering box, and the money has gone to charity. It's a stop for families with children over the holidays, and close to the Barbera villages of Costigliole and Agliano. The dates above are the last two seasons.