Underwater Nativity

A consolidated tradition, a passion handed down with love, is what links the Underwater Nativity to Laveno Mombello, just a stone’s throw from Lake Maggiore. 

For over 40 years, the Friends of the Underwater Nativity have been managing the installation of this underwater crib, placing the 42 statues on 5 metal platforms about 2-3 metres under the surface of the lake. As well as the traditional Nativity figures, there are also more particular characters, including the wanderer, the housewife, and the shepherd with sheep, there to enhance the nativity scene. All of the figures are made in white Vicenza stone and are the work of the late artisan and sculptor Gianfranco Tancredi, who died in 2019. 

Their beauty can be seen from the depths of the lake, as they give off a brilliant white light, illuminated by underwater spotlights, a tribute to art but also to the passion of Italian craftsmanship. Their story is also told in a book, “Storia di un presepe. Quarant’anni del Presepe Sommerso di Laveno Mombello” by Giuseppe Musumeci, written to celebrate a Christmas event that welcomes visitors from all over the province, and whose roots go back to the late 1970s. A visit to the Underwater Nativity of Lave no Mombello is an opportunity to experience the Christmas spirit surrounded by the charming atmosphere along the lake in the evening. 

The Underwater Nativity can be visited from late November to early January, with the most important event being the evening of the 24th of December, when the statue of the Baby Jesus is brought by a couple from the Church of San. Filippo and San Giacomo to the shore of the lake before being taken by divers to be placed under water, for an occasion that is deeply spiritual and also extremely charming.