Rome is the home of Vatican City, headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, and of some of Europe’s most sacred Christmas traditions. Manger scenes, called presepi, originated just a little north of Rome in Assisi some 800 years ago, when St. Francis taught the story of Jesus's birth with props. For a bit of manger history, visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. There you can see five wooden planks, said to be from the original Christmas manger. Or visit the Vatican's Nativity scene – the

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I’m in Rome, updating my Rick Steves Rome guidebook — an intense process. Updating a guidebook to the “Eternal City” takes a while. A theme for this visit was finding peace and cultural tranquility in a city that, in many ways, feels overrun with tourists. And that’s easy to do. Like voters tend to vote for whoever’s up in the polls, many tourists visit the same famous sights. Fortunately, Rome has lots of extremely rewarding sights that are cool, quiet, and give an intimate peek at an amazing a